Zack’s career in education began when he wrote a media production program and produced an education documentary. Using the knowledge and skills he’d mastered as a film and media arts student at Temple University, he taught a video production course for fifty secondary students in a credit recovery program. In the summer of 2007 these students - all former high school dropouts - shot a documentary about the graduation rate crisis in Philadelphia public schools. The film includes students’ personal stories and interviews with public officials, including former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter.
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Zack’s work in North Philadelphia led him to work as a teaching artist at another Philadelphia high school. These early experiences teaching young people sparked a passion for education, which led him to pursue his teaching certification at the University of Pittsburgh. While enrolled at Pitt, Zack worked as a student teacher, designing lessons for 11th and 12th grade Language Arts students at a nationally ranked Blue Ribbon high school. Zack completed his certification with endorsements in secondary English and Communications.
Zack's first certificated position was with the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA). In 2011 he relocated to Germany to teach English and video production courses at the brand new American high school at U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt. The Army’s base realignment and closure plan (BRAC) shuttered the school in Schweinfurt after three years, but in that time Zack had a chance to shape school culture, create a nurturing learning environment, and build a video program from scratch. He was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the garrison commander for his service to the well-being of American military dependents.
Following the base closure at Schweinfurt, Zack transferred to Bitburg American High School for his final year of teaching overseas. During his four years in Germany, Zack taught English 7, 10, 11, 12 and AP Language and Composition, as well as several levels of middle and high school video production. Click to learn more. 
In 2015 Zack joined the education department at The National Museum of the U.S. Army, the Army's first national museum, located on Fort Belvoir, Virginia. There he collaborated with museum design teams including project managers, engineers, fabricators, and other subcontractors to design the museum's educational and interpretive programs.
He consulted on ways to make Army-themed GSTEM (geography, science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning engaging for middle and high school students, and beta tested interactive multimedia content for the museum's Experiential Learning Center. He provided countless hours of editing and design feedback to programmers and fabricators, wrote promotional and social media content and helped design the museum's website. He documented the exhibit gallery construction and artifact conservation through photos and video, and produced scripts, storyboards and voiceover copy for the museum's fly-through video tour, among myriad other duties. |
In 2018 Zack relocated to the Seattle area to manage a K-5 public school library media program. He updated the library collection to reflect the interests of his students and the diversity of the school community. He helped promote family literacy and a culture of reading, and extended the reach of the library program virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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