Chuck Tonelli says STEM Teacher of the Year award about ‘we,’ not ‘me’

This story first appeared in STEM in Iowa 2025, an annual special section distributed in The Gazette that provides an in-depth look at how this educational pathway is having an impact in the classroom as well as in future workforce pipelines.

Metro High School science teacher Chuck Tonelli took on a challenge 20 years ago, and as the Southeast Iowa Region STEM Teacher of the Year, he is thankful he did.

Tonelli, 45, was placed at Metro High School in Cedar Rapids as a student teacher while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in science education at the University of Iowa. He was cautious about the assignment, wondering if he should ask for another placement.

“At the time, I had no idea what an alternative high school was,” he said.

His wife, Shalome Tonelli, urged him to push through his hesitancy and embrace the challenge. That student-teaching job became the only one he has known.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Tonelli said. “I really fell in love with the staff and the culture that exists here in the building, and the students.”

As a teacher at Metro High School and coordinator of the STEAM Academy, Tonelli gets excited about helping students work toward their high school degree, engage with the community and earn skills that will help them build their future.

Metro High School students are typically sophomore-aged or older when they enter the school. They were often not on track to graduate, which Tonelli and his colleagues do not take for granted.

“It’s very powerful for me,” he said. “Our graduations are pretty magical. In our society, graduation is kind of taken for granted. Most students, most families and most community members expect a high school graduation and assume it’s an easy accomplishment, but it’s not for every student. Every student that we graduate was on track not to graduate from high school before joining our program, so that’s pretty awesome.”

Tonelli faced doubt when he was a high school student. He was the first person in his family to go to college, against his guidance counselor’s advice.

“The counselor essentially told me I should go straight to work,” he recalled. “I kind of used that as fuel.”

The doubts of his guidance counselor are something Tonelli finds some of his students have faced as well. Like him, he hopes that they use it as fuel to prove their doubters wrong.

  Buy Photo

“One of the reasons that they’re not engaged is because either they’ve been told and believe that they can’t be a successful student, or they don’t understand why they need an education,” Tonelli said. “You know, that classic kind of student question like, ‘Why do I need to know that?’ If, as a teacher, you can’t answer that question, they’re probably right.”

Questions are at the center of science education, and they are what drew Tonelli to the field in the first place. His classes are inquiry-driven, a style of learning that drew him in as a student.

“The education program is really more interested in students engaging in the process of inquiring about the world through discovery and phenomenon, versus providing them with what they need ahead of time and seeing if they can regurgitate it,” Tonelli said of his studies at the University of Iowa.

Shannon Ellis, teacher at Metro High School, said Tonelli’s curiosity and willingness to collaborate are what make him the educator he is.

“He’s very curious about the world around us and really engages kids in a way that allows them to be curious and not afraid to ask questions,” Ellis said.

Ellis and Tonelli have been collaborating in the classroom throughout their 20-year careers. Often that collaboration takes them and their students outside of the classroom. Ellis teaches social studies. They have found ways to weave science and social studies together, such as in their “Star Wars” class that focused on space exploration and the Cold War space race.

“That’s probably part of our guiding philosophy. We recognize it’s ridiculous to teach academic subjects in silos where there’s no connection to what you’re learning,” Ellis said.

Tonelli appreciates the recognition of being named STEM Teacher of the Year, but it is an honor that he believes represents the work Metro High School and STEAM Academy are doing as a whole.

“The representation it has for the work that we’ve been doing in the STEAM Academy and with the work with our community partners has really had a strong impact on the community and our students,” he said. “It’s definitely meaningful for me, but I really see it as a strong recognition for what we’re doing here as far as STEM education. We’re not just trying things out but really leading and innovating.”

Tonelli is one of six teachers across the state to be recognized as a STEM Teacher of the Year this year. They were recognized at the Iowa State Capitol in March. Tonelli was recognized for providing a variety of real-world experiences for his students that allow them to network and build soft skills.