Chromebooks, iPads, Sphero devices, and Makey Makey kits: These are just a few of the digital tools in Ashley Lennox’s classroom.

The fifth-grade Draper Elementary teacher also has been known to put a few analog (even living) devices to use, including, an iguana and yoga balls – masterfully marrying them with the curriculum to make learning fun and encourage students to think, problem-solve and create. But don’t let her fun-filled classroom fool you. “She’s an outstanding young educator who combines creativity, technology use, classroom management, and superior teaching skills to create a classroom where all students learn and achieve,” says CSD Educational Technology Specialist Katie Blunt.

For her smart use of new technology, her willingness to collaborate and share tech tips with her peers, and her efforts to promote good digital citizenship, Ashley Lennox was named the 2017 UCET Outstanding Young Educator Award at the March 16 Utah Coalition for Educational Technology Conference. The award was presented during the Opening Session of the conference, which was held at the University of Utah.

Lennox is first in line to embrace new technology, Blunt says. Many of the devices she uses were purchased with grant money that she personally applied for and won.

Yet she’s generous with her time and resources, forever sharing students’ accomplishments, tech tips, and teaching ideas on social media to promote the cooperative development and effective use of technology.

Lennox, M.Ed., is a certified NASA teacher with endorsements in educational technology, reading, and teaching English as a second language. The leader of Draper’s “Techniteer Troupe,” she brings together students interested in the use of technology and gives them opportunities to code, and complete engineering challenges.

She’s not one to let high-tech resources rest idle, Blunt says. “When entering her classroom, what becomes instantly obvious is the passion Ashley has for teaching and learning and the love she has for her students. She motivates, encourages, and inspires.”