Emery oversees the after-school program for 18,000 Fairfax County Public Schools students across 27 middle schools, where his innovative programs ?– beyond your typical kickball game — earned Emery the 2011 Afterschool State Champion Award from nonprofit Afterschool Alliance. In another life, you were a research physicist for the government. Why this?

I got very involved in education when my children went to school in the late 1980s — PTAs, then I ran and served on the school board. I thought I could make a difference. For a number of years I’ve been with the Fairfax Partnership for Youth, and we formed an after-school network; middle-school kids have a real need for support and services in that time between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. It’s shown to have an impact on academics, on behavior, and on school culture.