Educator was a welder before entering the classroom. Now he’s Wake’s Teacher of the Year
A Millbrook High School teacher who overcame dyslexia and now works at his alma mater has been named Wake County’s top educator.
Ryan Berglund, a Sustainable Agriculture Academy teacher at Millbrook High in Raleigh, was named the 2024 Wake County Teacher of the Year at a ceremony Monday night. Like a growing number of educators, teaching is a second career for Berglund.
Berglund was a professional welder and equipment fabricator before becoming a teacher at Millbrook in 2019. That prior experience has benefited his students.
Wake says Berglund is the only agriculture teacher in North Carolina that is an AWS Certified Welding Inspector. Under his mentorship, 64 students have become certified welders ready to enter the workforce upon graduation.
“Our students are able to build some amazing projects that show their true understanding of the objectives in the course,” Berglund said about his teaching style in his Teacher of the Year portfolio. “I always tell my students, ‘I will not be there in the real world to tell you how to build it, you will have to figure it out.’ This takes their understanding to a new level.”
Dyslexia helps him relate to students
Berglund said being diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade helped shape how he interacts with his students.
“In resource classes, I was able to see how students with disabilities have been given a different lens to look through that is not right or wrong, just different,” Bergulund said in his portfolio. “This is a mindset I try to instill in all of my students.”
Berglund graduated from Millbrook High. He has a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education from the University of Mount Olive.
Berglund helped implement Millbrook’s Supervised Agriculture Experience program that allows over 350 students annually to gain work-based learning experiences. Students in the program have started businesses, worked with local agriculture enterprises and created their own service programs.
Last year’s Wake Teacher of the Year also had not planned on being a teacher. Terry Hennings was a U.S. Air Force medic with 25 years of military experience before he became a Civic Literacy and African American Studies teacher at Garner High School.
WCPSS Teacher of the Year finalists
Berglund was chosen among the Teacher of the Year winners for each individual school. The list was whittled to 10 finalists:
▪ Juan Cruz, a fifth-grade teacher at Buckhorn Creek Elementary in Holly Springs
▪ Susan Ennis, a career and technical education/science teacher at Leesville Road High in Raleigh
▪ April Guenzler, an Intervention teacher at Lockhart Elementary in Knightdale
▪ Monica Hall, a kindergarten teacher at Timber Drive Elementary in Garner
▪ Kelly Hurry, a second-grade teacher at Laurel Park Elementary in Apex
▪ Whitney Masterson, an eighth-grade science teacher at Mills Park Middle in Cary
▪ Madison Parker, a special education teacher at Alston Ridge Elementary in Cary
▪ Karen Rahe, a sixth-grade math teacher at Dillard Drive Middle in Raleigh
▪ Ashely N. Smith, a seventh-grade English language arts teacher at Zebulon Middle
Berglund’s prize package includes a $1,000 check. He’ll also get use of a 2024 Chevrolet Tahoe, compliments of Capital Chevrolet, for the next year.
He’ll go on to compete in North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year program.
