For 4-H Leader and Neag Student, Learning is a Lifelong Process
'To me as a kid, UConn was this big, amazing place'
Rachael Manzer, with her husband Ken, receives a 4-H leadership award in 2019. Manzer, a STEM educator who has worked with NASA, is a doctoral candidate in the Neag School of Education. (Courtesy of Defining Studios)
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For Rachael Manzer, a doctoral candidate in the Neag School of Education, life-transformative education takes many forms.
Manzer is a five-year volunteer of the UConn 4-H Program, a leader with the Granby 4-H Club, a member of the NASA Network of Astronaut Teachers (NEAT), and a candidate for commercial space flight through Teachers in Space, Inc. In 2019, Manzer received the UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) 4-H Leadership Award, and was recently selected as the 2021 Northeast 4-H Volunteer of the Year Award. All of these experiences helped lead her to pursue a doctorate at UConn, but the seeds were planted much earlier, during her youth as a member of the UConn Litchfield County 4-H Club.