Naveen Cunha, an 8th grade robotics teacher at Stephen F. Austin, or SFA, middle school in Bryan has been selected as a top-three state finalist for 2024 TASA Secondary Teacher of the Year, described as “the highest honor that the State of Texas can bestow upon a teacher.” With over 30 years of teaching experience in Bryan-College Station, Cunha says he is excited to represent the community as it continues to grow in opportunities for young students.
Cunha was originally nominated by his fellow teachers at SFA as the 2023 campus teacher of the year. From there, he advanced as Bryan ISD secondary teacher of the year and was then selected out of 56 school districts to represent Region Six at the state level. On Thursday, Oct. 19, he and the other finalists will be interviewed by a panel for final selections.
“It’s quite an honor — at that very first step — to be selected by my peers,” Cunha says. “The kids are excited, the community is excited, but the way I look at it, yeah I’m getting the award, but it’s not everything I’ve done. There are so many people that have had a hand in the whole process. I’m representing the faculty at SFA because they put me up to this.”
In addition to the 2024 TASA selection, Cunha recently received the Extra Yard for Teachers recognition from the College Football Playoff Foundation, which included an award of $3,000.
“I want to get together with our principal and look at our needs before designating that money,” Cunha says. “We’ve been really blessed that our district supports us, so this money should go wherever it’s needed. Like I said, the other teachers are really the ones who put me up for this in the first place, so they should feel some of that as well.”
Cunha began his teaching career in 1989 in College Station. Within a few years, he began exploring opportunities for developing educational programs.
“I really enjoyed teaching, but I wanted more,” he says. “There was a lot of stuff going on in the community, and I wanted to somehow bring that in and have kids work on real problems in the world, not just fictitious things that they don’t see the impact of.”
In 2001, Cunha worked with the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, to bring research into the classroom. His students studied the corn earworm, the larvae of moth, to present solutions to crop infestations. At the end of the semester, students worked in groups on a research project to report their findings.
“One group got up and put a wooden box on the table and said, ‘build bat houses,’ and I thought ‘wow, that really makes sense,’” Cunha says. “In their research they found that bats eat moths since they’re both nocturnal creatures, so by planting bats you could take care of the earworm infestation without any pesticides or anything. I called the scientist that had worked with us to listen to the presentation and he thought it was amazing, so the USDA changed the direction of their own research based on what a fifth grader found in this program.”
The program went on to be very successful, with teachers across the nation using it to teach students about the insect life cycle with real world applications.
Shortly after, Cunha was selected for an educator fellowship with NASA where he worked in the office of education for two years. Upon his return to B/CS, he was offered a position at SFA to lead a new program that was being developed, Odyssey Academy.
Odyssey is a nationally accredited STEM program where students, starting in fifth grade and going into high school, receive an advanced education “through integrated technology instruction.” Currently, the program is being phased into the newly developed advanced academics program, Aspire Academy. In addition to teaching robotics, Cunha continues to serve as the STEM Coordinator at SFA Middle School, working to integrate these new programs and provide students with rich opportunities and resources.
“There are kids here that are doing amazing stuff and people need to know that,” Cunha says. “Outside of A&M, Bryan-College Station is really not known for big, huge things, so it’s exciting to me that we’re getting recognition for the community. To me, that’s what it’s about. Our kids are capable, we just need opportunities, and that’s what our programs provide: options and opportunities.”
