Chauncey Veatch

2002-2003 National Teacher of the Year

During a White House Rose Garden ceremony, on April 24, 2002, Chauncey Veatch was named National Teacher of the Year. Veatch became a teacher in 1995 at the end of active duty service in the United States Army. In Thermal, California, he taught seventh and eighth grade science, mathematics, English, reading, writing, social studies, physical education, ESL, and adult education. In 1999 Veatch began teaching career technical education and social studies at Coachella Valley High School. He specifically requested that non-English speaking students, students with special needs, students with learning disabilities, pregnant teens, and students involved with gangs or drugs be placed in his classes. Since 2003 Veatch has also worked with Pre-K and elementary school students in Migrant Head Start and reading intervention programs.

As the College Board’s International Visiting Scholar, Veatch travels as a distinguished lecturer with published works on globalization, leadership, diversity, and access to postsecondary education. His lectures are in both English and Spanish. He serves on Visa Inc.’s Educators Council as an advocate for its financial literacy programs. Veatch has helped develop Zip Zoom English and contributed to Read 180 and RED. These are Scholastic Inc.’s technology-based reading programs.

Veatch was recently named International Ambassador for Education by La Prensa Hispana for his global leadership initiatives. In 2005 he was selected as a member of the California Commission on the Year of Languages. In recognition for community-based leadership, he was named Educator of the Year by the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce. Valuing the importance of the family, Veatch has taken a lead in the PTA’s new National Outreach Campaign to Hispanic parents. To assist in educator recruitment, he is active in the Troops to Teachers Program. With a sky is the limit outlook, he has been an active leader in NASA’s science outreach program to Native-American, African-American, and Hispanic-American students. Concern for America’s underserved populations resulted in his membership on the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness and his membership on the National Advisory Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

Veatch earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Pacific, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, and teaching credential from Chapman University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Website: cveatch.com
Email: [email protected]