After merely five years of submissions to the Michigan Design Prize by his 9th grade students, Stevenson Manufacturing, Automation and Design Engineering (MADE) teacher Mark LaCombe has been recognized by the Michigan Design Council as their 2023 Educator of the Year.
“For our students being in 9th grade, the things that he is able to get them to do is far beyond their years,” said Stevenson High School Associate Principal, Alison Hildebrand.
The Michigan Design Council helps showcase the robust industrial design talent base of Michigan and holds an annual k-12 contest to celebrate and develop exceptional Michigan industrial design talent.
For LaCombe, the Educator of the Year recognition serves as a testament to the Stevenson MADE program and its staff.
“We have competed, and done very well, in the Michigan Design Prize challenge,” said LaCombe. “It fits so well with what we believe in for our MADE students – finding and solving real world, relevant problems for an authentic audience.”
“Mr. LaCombe has done so many things for our Academy,” Stevenson MADE senior, Joshua Lee, said. “He is the reason everything runs the way it does, he sets up business partners and finds challenging and creative ways to teach.”
“Honestly, I don’t think I would be as far as I am in life and in school without him as my 9th grade teacher.”
LaCombe will be recognized as the 2023 Educator of the Year at the Michigan Design Prize 2023 Awards Ceremony on June 7, 2023. Stevenson MADE also has two projects recognized as Michigan Design Prize finalists. The students who will be honored for their projects at the 2023 Awards Ceremony are Meghan Landino who worked on her project independently and Gjon Lulgjuraj and Sierra Savage.
