Meet Our Teacher Advisory Committee
Mr. Conrad Benedicto
Social Studies
Wilderness Arts Literacy Collaborative
Conrad Benedicto is the Executive Director for Wilderness Arts Literacy Collaborative, an environmental education program integrated into two San Francisco high schools. Mr. Benedicto, along with other teachers in the Collaborative, use nature as a unifying theme for all academic areas from English to technology. As a teacher of 14 years, he has been honored at San Francisco’s Crissy Field Environmental Center as a Community Environmental Hero.
Mr. John Dean
Government, Economics, African American Studies, World and U. S. History Teacher
Aiken Public Service Learning School
John Dean teaches at Aiken College and Career High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Covering a wide variety of topics, Mr. Dean incorporates environmental theme in a cross-curricular approach. In partnership with the EarthDay Network, he has worked to promote the building of ‘green’ school buildings in his district.
Mr. Steve Hage
Instructor
School of Environmental Studies at the Minnesota Zoo
Steve Hage serves as an instructor at the School of Environmental Studies at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota. The SES at the Minnesota Zoo allows students to delve into the field of environmental science while working alongside professionals in the field. Prior to working at the School of Environmental studies, Mr. Hage was an employee of the Minnesota Zoo where he incorporated a wealth of environmental knowledge into his work.
Ms. Jenelle D. Hopkins
Earth and Environmental Science Teacher
Centennial High School
Jenelle Hopkins, a National Board Certified Teacher, teaches in the suburbs of Las Vegas, in a community that is experiencing a great deal of growth. In her classes, she works to show students that the desert is an ecosystem, not something to pave over. She utilizes the ‘vacant’ lot across the street from her High School to help students understand not only the fragility of desert habitat as well as the seasonal changes that the desert undergoes.
Ms. Doreen Petri
AP Environmental Science, Global Biology, Anatomy and Physiology Teacher
Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy
Doreen has been teaching AP Environmental Science for six years. In 2007 she, an engineer, and her AP Environmental Science students conducted an energy audit of their school. They focused on using more natural light to save energy. Desk lamps were donated to the school so teachers could turn off lights during their planning period, and they replaced incandescent lights in Exit signs with LEDs. The students reported to the larger school community that they saved the school an estimated $10,000 in energy costs.
Ms. Debra Weitzel
Advanced Placement Environmental Science and Environmental Studies I & II Teacher
Middleton High School
Debra Weitzel has taught an environmental course at her high school for thirty years. What started as a course called Man’s Environment was transformed in 1992, and now she teaches two courses: AP Environmental Science and Environmental Studies. She team teaches the Environmental Studies course with a Social Studies teacher, and through her efforts, the Ecology Club has grown to 70 students and they help maintain rain gardens and prairie plots around the school and community.
Ms. Karen Stofcheck
Program Specialist, Grant Writer
Citrus County School District
Karen Stofcheck has twenty years of experience teaching high school and middle school science, and now is a district grant writer, raising funds for several schools including the Citrus County Academy of Environmental Science. The Academy pulls students from three different high schools to spend a spring semester in its program. Karen wrote a grant to publish a book in her school district to help promote literacy, while also focusing on environmental science. The result, a student created book, was titled, “Animals of the Nature Coast,” and of the sixteen animals it features, many are endangered.
Mr. Michael Town
AP Environmental Science Teacher
Redmond High School
Michael Town is an educator at Redmond High School, the school which founded the “Cool School Challenge.” The “Cool School Challenge” is an initiative to educate students about energy consumption and its environmental impact, and teachers are challenged to reduce their CO2 footprint by 1,000 pounds. This past year the challenge was to reduce the CO2 footprint by 2,000 pounds. Mr. Town’s AP Environmental science class monitors teachers’ progress to see if each classroom meets the challenge.
Ms. Paula Wang
AP Environmental Science Teacher
Sidwell Friends School
Paula Wang, an AP Environmental Science teacher of fifteen years, understands the importance of teaching environmental science in the outdoors. Her classroom is partnered with the Rock Creek National Park and her local chapter of the Audubon Naturalist Society, which work collaboratively to monitor Rock Creek for the local government. Her students’ experiences leave them with a lasting knowledge and continuing interest in environmental science.
Ms. Nia Rhodes Jackson
Executive Director
Friends of the NY High School for Environmental Studies
Nia Rhodes Jackson, now Executive Director for the Friends of New York High School for Environmental Studies, previously served as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Community Director for the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment. She has developed curricula and built relationships with community groups which have greatly aided in the development of the school’s environmental sciences program.
Ms. Norma Velia Williamson
Foreign Languages Teacher
La Mirada High School
Norma Velia Williamson, a strong advocate of solar-power goes beyond teaching her students about alternative energy, but actually demonstrates its feasibility. Norma Velia Williamson has taught in public schools for 20 years and is a former District Teacher of the Year. She has successfully incorporated an environmental unit into her Spanish classes, teaching students about deforestation and habitat destruction in the Amazon rainforest. Students investigate the use of solar energy for powering electronics as a means of preventing the habitat destruction that results from the construction of hydropower plants.
