Alex Drumheller, Heritage High School teacher, wins Science Teaching Award

Heritage High School science teacher Alex Drumheller, left, poses with Framatome CEO and President Tony Robinson. 

Last night, Randolph College named Heritage High School teacher Alex Drumheller the winner of the 2025 Science Teaching Award from Randolph (STAR). 

The annual award honors a high school science teacher who has contributed significantly to the lives of students and exhibits excellence in the teaching of science.

The award includes a $1,500 stipend, as well as an additional $1,000 as an unrestricted grant for the winner’s classroom.

The award was announced at the keynote event for Randolph College’s Science Festival.

Drumheller has taught science at Heritage, his alma mater, since 1998 after previous stints at Sandusky Middle School from 1991 to 1995 and Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, from 1995 to 1998. 

He’s taught multiple subjects over the years, including physical science, earth science, introductory environmental science, and AP environmental science. 

Colleagues who nominated him for the award praised his dedication to experiential learning, with one saying he makes the world his classroom. 

Drumheller has brought groups of students to study in far-off locales like the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Panama. He also regularly takes students to do water quality studies on the James River and explores the trail behind Heritage with them. 

He has been chair of Heritage’s science department since 2003 and started its Environmental Club to promote stewardship and awareness of issues relevant to the local community. 

He serves as a mentor and cooperating teacher for student teachers and is part of the school’s leadership and improvement team, in addition to being a past member of the Virginia Department of Education’s Earth Science Curriculum Committee. 

Drumheller won the Virginia Association of Science Teachers’ Earth Science Teacher of the Year Award in 2007 and was named Heritage Teacher of the Year in 2012.

In his nomination letter, Heritage Principal Timothy T. Beatty said it’s an honor to have Drumheller—who he has worked with for more than 25 years—in the teaching profession. 

“He continuously looks for new and exciting ways to motivate his students to learn,” Beatty wrote, “and he does an outstanding job of building positive relationships with students.” 

The STAR award is sponsored by Framatome.