Mr. Ben Kolodziej

Mr. Kolodziej graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master's degree in Education. He taught for six years in the Fairfax County, Virginia public schools and added certification in gifted education.

Mr. Kolodziej joined DoDEA in 2011 and served as a teacher at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Camp Zama, Japan. There, he implemented DoDEA’s College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) and facilitated military-connected student participation in the STEM activities of numerous partner organizations including the University of Kentucky, the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA), and First Lego League. As a Continuous School Improvement Team co-chair, Mr. Kolodziej collaborated with students, faculty/staff, parents, and other community stakeholders to prepare for the Pacific East district’s first systems accreditation. In February 2016, Mr. Kolodziej was selected as the Pacific East District Teacher of the Year.

Mr. Kolodziej joined the DoDEA Americas ISS team in September 2016, coordinating Advanced Placement (AP), Gifted (GE), and Advanced Academic Programs and Services (AAPS) for K-12 students across 51 schools and 16 installations. Some of his achievements in this role include collaboratively revamping DoDEA’s elementary and middle school gifted programs to foster an advanced academics approach, and facilitating the implementation of AP Capstone at two high schools. For four years, Mr. Kolodziej served as the chair of the Southeast District’s Teacher of the Year selection panel, and as the Partners in Education (PIE) liaison between the Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning) schools and the Columbus, GA Chamber of Commerce. He was a co-facilitator for the Southeast District’s 2019 21st Century Teaching, Leading, and Learning (CTLL) Basecamp Conference, in which he coached teacher and administrative teams from seven schools on high-impact, collaborative practices to prepare for their transition into a new, 21st century school building. Mr. Kolodziej was on the ISS Support Team, working directly with teachers and administrators, for the four schools in the Southeast District, that were selected as National Blue Ribbon Schools. He assisted both the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Districts through successful systems accreditations with Cognia. Before joining the administrative staff at QMHS, Mr. Kolodziej provided strategic school support to Fort Campbell and Fort Knox Middle High Schools and served as a DoDEA Virtual School (DVS) teacher during fall semester of 2020.

In both the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Districts, Mr. Kolodziej has coordinated training and professional learning for AP, GE, and AAPS teachers. He has facilitated professional development sessions at the school, district, region, national, and worldwide levels. He served as the lead facilitator for the DoDEA Americas Advanced Academic Summit in September 2019. Mr. Kolodziej has been a co-presenter of numerous topics at the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic District Leadership Conferences, the DoDEA Worldwide Leadership Conference, the College of William and Mary, and the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Virtual Conference. He has also facilitated community seminars for parents and stakeholders on talent development and mitigating student underachievement.

A lifelong learner, Mr. Kolodziej has completed College Board institutes in AP Biology and AP Government. In 2019, Mr. Kolodziej became AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) certified and participated in AVID Center’s Path to Schoolwide Leadership training. In addition to his earlier degrees, he earned a 2nd Master’s degree in 2021. This one in Educational Leadership from Marymount University. He is thankful to serve as an educator and a leader of learning among America’s military-connected students, and as one of his own former principals taught him, “There is no nobler profession than to touch the next generation!”

Mr. Kolodziej is a dedicated husband and proud father to his five children.