Local News
A Roanoke City educator is honored by the president

Roanoke, Virginia – Just over 100 educators nationwide were selected to earn the coveted 2024 Presidential Excellence Award, including a teacher from Roanoke City Public Schools.
To be honest, it still feels a little unreal. Raymond Cotter, an engineering instructor at the Charles Day Technical Center, stated, “I think I’m just doing what pretty much everyone else should be doing, which is looking for ways to help connect our students and their interests with the skills we’re trying to teach them and the opportunities we’re providing for them.”
Former President Joe Biden selected Cotter as one of just six Virginia educators to receive the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2024.
“I get my inspiration and motivation from my kids. “I’m interested in this and always want to push things to the next level because they always come up with something new and really cool that they’ve developed or designed,” Cotter said.
Since 2006, Cotter has worked for Roanoke City Public Schools. Before the program was transferred to DAYTEC when it opened in 2023, he was an engineering teacher at William Fleming High School.
He is an amazing teacher for many reasons than just his subject-matter expertise. Ray is an expert in robotics and engineering, but his greatest strength is his ability to recognize the requirements of his students. “Using his expertise and applying it to every single student,” DAYTEC Site Director Eric Lear stated. “He is fully aware of how to inspire and connect with them. I rarely visit this classroom and find that the pupils are not actively participating, learning, and enjoying every second of it.
In order to compete in class challenges, Cotter’s students design and construct robots, gaining practical engineering expertise. He claimed that in order to keep his class current and give pupils practical experience, he works closely with local engineers.
“I also make sure that what they’re doing here isn’t just what you might see in a textbook, but rather what an actual engineer does.” In order to apply what they have learned during the remainder of their schooling to practical issues that are important to them, students should engage in a lot of hands-on problem-solving,” Cotter added.
Cotter claimed that receiving the accolade has validated him and that witnessing his pupils’ reactions has been amazing.
Most of them learned about it late last week, and I’m not sure how, but good for the one or two that learned about it before I told anyone else. They’re all enthusiastic about it and simply proud to be a part of it, and it was fairly fantastic,” he remarked.
Eric Lear, the site director for DAYTECH, stated that he was not shocked to see Cotter win such a significant honor. He claimed that over the years, Cotter has had a significant influence on a large number of Roanoke City youngsters.
“I am honored to collaborate with Mr. Cotter. He is a man of great humility. I’m not sure if he realizes how much he contributes to the students at Roanoke City Public Schools, but I’d guess he does,” Lear remarked. When students return, they discuss their experiences learning from Mr. Cotter. I hope he stays here for a long time since he is a terrific man who genuinely cares about our students and community.
Later this year, Cotter will visit the White House with other honorees.
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