Meet the Teacher Turning Chocolate, Lasers, and Guitars Into Learning.

Carrie Jones

May 21, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Have you ever had the sort of teacher that helps his students design their own guitars?

Michael Brzezowski is that kind of teacher.

Or how about a teacher that purchases 15 pounds of chocolate, helps his students use 100-ounces of food-safe silicone to create candy molds and then combines it all to create a candy mart at Birch Bay Village?

Michael Brzezowski is that kind of teacher.

How about the kind of teacher that integrates technology with other core disciplines, brings kids and staff and topics together and reaches out into the community for projects, too?

Michael Brzezowski is that kind of teacher.

Or, how about the kind of teacher that is honored as the 2026 Hancock County Teacher of the Year by the Maine Department of Education?

Michael Brzezowski is definitely that kind of teacher and he deserves that kind of honor.

The technology integration teacher at Pemetic Elementary in Southwest Harbor is the official 2026 Hancock County Teacher of the Year, the state’s Department of Education announced May 15.

“It is a great honor but also a lot of work to be part of the program. It is actually a large professional development program in leadership, which I am excited to participate in,” Brzezowski also known as Mr. B said.

According to a press release from the state, “In 2026, hundreds of people from school communities across the state—including students, parents, colleagues, and administrators—nominated more than 500 educators for the Maine Teacher of the Year program. Local panels of teachers, principals, business leaders, and community members then chose these 16 educators from that pool. The members of the 2026 Maine County Teachers of the Year cohort represent a wide range of expertise. They work in pre-K through high school classrooms, have been teaching for between seven and 31 years, and specialize in areas such as chemistry, math, English, alternative education, Spanish, visual arts, digital media, and more.”

The teachers are meant to be ambassadors, people who advocate for all students’ education quality, elevating their peers, and living the phrase “great schools make great communities; great communities make great schools,” which was created by the group of teachers honored in 2025.

Mr. B does all of that already. He brings his love of tech and teaching to the community again and again. Next up is a mobile makerspace. Hancock County Technical Center (HCTC) have started stripping down a school bus to make it happen. Approximately $107,000 in grants is helping to fund the project.

Mr. B doesn’t quite ever stop. Even when he found out about the award, he went right back to helping the Pemetic Elementary School Principal Carolyn Todd on her schedule for next year.

“I was helping her set up new software to make the scheduling process easier. I got a call but ignored it,” Mr. B said. “After that, I got a text from a friend who works for Educate Maine, who was one of the two people who nominated me and who had just happened to stop by the office to pick up a microphone. She was telling me to answer my phone, so I called back and found out.”

Mr. B. found out about the honor and then he went right back to work, which is pretty on brand for him. He hasn’t told his students, yet, even though the honor is a big deal. His friends agree that Mr. B is not the best at bragging. He is, however, important to kids and staff at his school.

That sort of importance was stressed by Governor Janet Mills in the announcement.

“As the daughter of a long-time public school teacher, and as someone who raised five children who attended public schools in Maine, I know the profound impact that a teacher can have on a child’s life,” Governor Mills said in a press release. “These 16 outstanding teachers, one from each county, represent the very best of Maine educators working to prepare students for bright futures here in our state.”

Instead of talking a lot about the honor, he’s just creating, talking about his projects, planning ways to highlight the students’ work rather than his own, and thinking of new, innovative ways to help the staff and students at the Pemetic School.

“I love getting kids excited and making things, especially when they are hands on projects. When we start building electric guitars with middle school students many can’t believe they could actually make a working guitar. But, after a few weeks they have it in their hands and can hear it play music. It is awesome to watch,” Mr. B said.

“Mike is so passionate about taking tech and making it fun, educational, and cool all at the same time,” said Pemetic School Board Chair John Bench. “From his 3D printing lab to his guitar making workshop, he’s always looking for new ways to reach the kids where they are, and help them on their learning journey.”

Mr. B’s impact lasts.

“I have a son in college and one in high school, and they always said that working with Mr. B was always a highlight of their day at Pemetic. We’re lucky to have him and I can’t wait to see what amazing experience he cooks up next for our students,” Bench said.

In that guitar project in 2025, Pemetic Elementary School’s seventh and eighth-grade students designed the instruments. It was the culmination of their cross-curricular electric guitar project.

Art teacher Emily Michaud, music teacher Michael Milazzo, and Brzezowski guided the students as they designed, built, and decorated their own electric guitars. They then displayed them at Mainely Vinyl in Ellsworth.

There, Brzezowski snapped photo after photo of the guitars, which not only featured the students’ artwork, but the stories behind them.

His enthusiasm was contagious at the event. It continues to be.

“It is extremely exciting to know that Mike has been awarded HCTY. He is an extremely talented teacher whose first thought is always on how to best engage children in learning,” said School Superintendent Mike Zboray.

Mr. B. is a man of action and thought and plans.

“I always have ideas. We are working on creating a Mobile Makerspace that will travel around the schools on MDIRSS and Ellsworth to provide students with a common base of Makerspace activities. For me, computational thinking skills and soft skills like collaborating, communicating, etc. are the core of what kids need to succeed in this world. Makerspaces provide them a ‘Thinking Gym’ where they can practice all of these skills in a hand-on environment where it is safe to fail,” he explained.

Eighth and sixth graders have just finished up a door plate project.

“They interviewed teachers about what they liked, how they want their name and title on the plate, etc. Then they designed a name plate for their door and tried to find a icon to engrave next to their name that would represent the staff member well. After that, the design needed to be proofread and approved by the staff member. The designs were then cut on our Xtool P2S laser in the classroom and delivered to the staff member. They used a Trello Kanban board to track the project and learned project management techniques and skills,” Mr. B explained.

And then there are the guitars.

“As preparation for sixth grade, when they get to build a real electric guitar, fifth grade students have made cardboard guitars that we are adding microbit mini computers onto in order to control,” Mr. B said. “They are adding features like using the accelerometer on the microbit so they could bend notes by wiggling the guitar or using the lights sensor to vary the pitch.”

The electric guitars made this year by sixth and seventh grade students will be displayed both at Pemetic’s library and the Southwest Harbor Public Library.

He’s also learning from his students, too.

“I’m also very excited that the seventh grade student who has become very gifted with the blender software for treating 3-D models for games or printing has been running a class on Blender in my maker space. He is helping teach myself and the other classmates the basics of how to use this software. It’s been very exciting to see this,” he said.

And he’s working on partnerships.

“I have also connected with the professor, researching virtual and augmented reality at the University of Maine. I’m not sure how this will all shape out, but they will be coming here to work with our students some on creating their own virtual worlds. We have six Meta quest 3S is here in my classroom that we got as part of a grant,” Mr. B said.

The teaching awards are also running in the family. Mr. B’s wife, Michelle Bailey Brzezowski, a local educator, won the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Maine Adult Education Association in October.

Correction: Our sentence about grants was missing a zero. We’ve tweaked that at 6 p.m., May 21.

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