Sophie Korn, Educator

sophie.korn@climateeducation.org

Trained educator, amateur naturalist, and joy and justice advocate, Sophie Korn, has a story which starts in Los Angeles, California but bounces between coasts thereafter. Most recently, she worked as an Environmental Educator at the Children's Nature Institute in Los Angeles, using nature as a tool for fostering creativity, discovery, independence and respect while developing social and academic skills. She graduated with her undergraduate degree in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University in May of 2008. Where, besides learning how to crack crabs, she studied with particular engagement the sociology of education, political movements and culture in America and abroad, as well as fun things like astrophysics and biological anthropology. Her focus on education and youth empowerment as the path to social equality started with action in high school and was nurtured by her studies at Hopkins, where she taught third grade in a Baltimore City Public School. After graduation she headed back to her favorite city cloaked in smog to pursue a Masters of Arts in Teaching Social Studies as the Leo D. Buscaglia scholar at the University of Southern California. She is also an avid consumer of revolutionary art, music and movies, tasty cooking, spontaneous camp outs and lots of books (with and without pictures).
 

Kristina von Hoffmann, Senior Educator

kristina.vonhoffmann@climateeducation.org

Kristina brings her passion for communication, environmental stewardship, and direct action to the Southern California outpost of ACE. While in college, Kristina went abroad to Madagascar where she conducted environmental field studies and researched and wrote a report about national biofuel development for the World Wildlife Fund. Post-graduation, she served as the Events & Outreach Associate for Inside Out Community Arts, a non-profit that provides free after school arts programs for at-risk youth in LA. This experience gave Kristina the tools she needed to make the jump from local arts advocate to national youth educator and organizer.

Kristina graduated cum laude from Scripps College in Claremont, CA with a dual major in Environmental Studies and French Language. This literary arts lover has been writing and performing spoken word poetry since the early years of high school, in addition to competing in youth and adult level poetry slam festivals. In her free time, she can be found practicing yoga, dancing to the beat of West African drums, going to concerts and riding her spiffy green bike (which is especially fun at night). Kristina is a native of Venice, CA, and loves living and working within biking distance of the beach.
 

Rochelle Younan, Educator

rochelle.younan@climateeducation.org

Rochelle’s passion for environmental sustainability came at a young age. She grew up in Minnesota, exploring the beautiful land of 10,000 lakes and has since developed an enthusiasm for outdoor exploration, conservation and mindfulness. She is half Egyptian and has taken a number of trips to Cairo to visit family. She attended Azusa Pacific University where she studied Sociology and Global Studies. During her junior year she had the privilege of taking part in an urban immersion program called L.A. Term where she became exposed to countless issues of social and environmental injustice. With that knowledge she led a campaign working closely with United Students Against Sweatshops to get her campus sweat-free, and was subsequently nominated for APU’s Student Leadership Award. It was during that period that her passion for student organizing grew to new heights. Toward the end of her college career she studied abroad in the Middle East, which greatly widened her perspective and helped her better understand her ethnic and cultural background. Upon graduating she moved to a refugee resettlement community in the rural south and learned about sustainable practices through gardening, simple living and intentionality. Most recently she finished a year of teaching English in South Korea and traveled to India, Mozambique and Syria to volunteer on organic farms and see friends and family.

She is incredibly thankful to live in such a diverse city and in her free time loves to bike, practice meditation/yoga and cook delicious vegetarian dinners with friends.