We are excited to welcome our GREEN participants: 
  • Jeffrey Appenzeller and Julie Trafton from North Park Elementary School: the school has a nature center where they integrate various subjects, from ecology to math, into nature. Students plant, maintain and harvest food to enhance math and science courses. Jeffrey teaches Science and Julie teaches Art for grades K-5. She helps coordinate the Nature Center and alternates every year between planning the Nature Center's birthday and creating a video for the birthday party. She also sets up the work days during the summer. Read Full Article Here:North Park
  • Burt Blomgren is a master gardener who does the Botany in the Classroom Program. Read Full Article Here: Botany in the Classroom
  • Sandy DeWalt- The Caledonia Conservancy offers the School-to-Nature Program for fourth and sixth graders. Read Full Article Here: Caledonia Conservacy
  • Mary Kae Laing  is a 4th grade teacher at Westridge Elementary School who shares activities from her classroom such as building terrariums and hatching chickens. Read Full Article Here: Westridge Elementary school
  • Rita Lewis is an administrator at Racine Montessori School. She wants to connect her students with several green activities including: nature centers, rain gardens, green houses, Root River monitoring, prairies of native plants, volunteering at the Eco-Justice Center, cooking, and monarch way stations. Read Full Article Here: Racine Montessori School Helpful Tips
  • Laura Schulz works at the REC Center which is affiliated with UW-Parkside. She leads canoe and kayak trips, water education workshops, and summer workshops revolving around environmental studies for elementary students. She hopes to connect schools with resources the REC offers. Read Full Article Here: REC
  • Aszya Summers is the Conservation Education Manager at the Racine Zoo in charge of school groups. The Racine Zoo offers the Wildlife Explorers program, Frogwatch, Bird Program and many more educational nature programs. Read Full Article Here: Racine Zoo Info
  • Sister Janet Weyker- The Eco-Justice Center offers various programs in environmental education for children and youth. Read Full Article Here:Eco-Justice Center
 
  • Kari Baumann teaches grade 4 at Olympia Brown, a science focused school. She has participated in the WATERshed field trip. She wants to bring more ecology opportunities to the school.
  • Nancy Carlson is a manager for the WATERshed program. Many of the activities that she coordinates are hands-on and exploratory. 
  • Xu Chen is a teacher at Park High School. She implements nature and ecology in her daily living, cooking, and gardening.​
  • Shelley Doering teaches grades 9-12 at Park High School. She teaches Culinary Arts one and two. She is looking forward to networking with other teachers and having assistance with summer planting and maintenance.
  • Christa Droste, field trips for kindergarteners and tree tapping at Riverbend Nature Center.
  • Jeanne Helinski-Christensen, Horticulture-UW extension, master gardener—gathered inventory for GREEN educators.
  • Marilyn Kiemen- working on bringing retired teachers as volunteers into classrooms, seeking teachers and classrooms to contribute to the transformation of Pritchard Park.
  • Jamian Knuth teaches 7th and 8th graders at 21st Century Preparatory School. "...the title of what I teach from is called Universal Issues in Science for 7th and 8th Grade.  A literacy focus and critical thinking view of a project based curriculum in Science," he says. Volunteer hours and student portfolios are mandatory for students at 21st Century Prep, so many students participate in various social justice, service learning, and environmentally focused activities. 
  • Michael McConnell teaches K-5 science at Wadewitz Elementary School. Most of his projects include gardens and composting. He is excited to share projects and ideas with the network.  ​
  • Rick Melcher is a math teacher at Park High School. He uses nature in his classes as examples of math in the real world. He hopes the network will help him formalize and improve opportunities for growing food on school grounds throughout Racine.​
  • Prisca Moore-Carthage College- prepares college students to go to elementary schools to start school gardens. Also aqua/hydroponics indoors, as well as vermicomposting and river monitoring.
  • Peter O'Shea is a History teacher at Walden III High School. He hopes to have a Greenhouse at his school, improve recycling and add solar panels. 
  • Tom Pfieffer teaches Ecology, Horticulture, and Earth Science at Horlick High School. One of his projects is a raised garden. He has taken his students on various field trips to Quarry Lake and River Bend Nature Center. 
  •  Emily Planton teaches Environmental Studies at Case High School. Facilitates the Case High School Green Team working on recycling, composting, bee keeping, and vegetable garden.
  • Carly Rondeau teaches Business Subjects at Horlick High School. “Built From Nothing” student projects in entrepreneurship and marketing things food created in horticultural classrooms.
  • Nicole Wager teaches 7th and 8th grade science at Gifford and has participated in the WATERshed Program field trip. She is open to looking for more opportunities for her students. 
  • Jane Worsham grows her own food via tower gardens by engaging students of all ages using hydroponic and aeroponic methods. She is looking forward to networking with other teachers in math, science, nutrition, ecology, sustainability, urban gardening and writing. 
  • Mera Yi instructs young adults (ages 18-25) for the Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps in sustainable skills and conservation, such as water quality, flood mitigation and permeable pavement installation. Students can gain scholarships or a GED, if not completed. She hopes to have new students join the program offerings anytime!
  • Marybeth Zuhlke is a clinical supervisor for student teachers at UW-Parkside. In addition, she is the secretary for the Root River Council and volunteers with the WATERshed program.  ​
Administrators:
  • Rosalie Daca is the Chief Academic Officer for RUSD. She is looking forward to seeing how the network will help schools positively affect our community. 
  • Terri Tessmann works with the Academies of Racine. She is a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) supervisor for grades K-12 at RUSD.
  • Dr. Christopher Thompson is the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for grades K-12 at the RUSD Administrative Service Center. Sustainability and environmental awareness apply to all aspects of his daily work. Some projects that he has worked on include field trips, the Science Curriculum Review, and teaching with materials such as West Ed "Making Sense of Science".