Credits

Toolkit Credits

Lead Editors:

Kate Catlin, kate.catlin@hotmail.com – As former President of the Environmental Club at Redmond High School in WA, Kate ran several successful campaigns, including setting a new district policy replacing Styrofoam with reusable lunch trays, which received national attention and coverage. Kate spent a gap year between high school and college as an Education Fellow at Earth Day Network, where she worked on several projects, attended legislative meetings and helped coordinate and present at Powershift 2009 and DC GreenFest. She will attend Gonzaga University in the fall of 2009.

Eva Stevens, evastevens88@gmail.com – Eva is a college senior at The University of California at Santa Cruz and has been an environmental activist and organizer since her freshman year there. She has worked with the Student Environmental Center’s Transportation Campaign to start a student-taught bike class and a bike library on the campus, and was the student coordinator for the 2008 Earth Summit Focus the Nation Event. She currently works with the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) at UCSC, focusing in academic development and facilitator training and mentorship, and was recently selected to be the Chancellors Undergraduate Intern for ESLP. She is double-majoring in Environmental Studies and Art and is interning with Earth Day Network to pursue her interest in environmental education and youth empowerment.

Project Directors at Earth Day Network:

Brenna Holzhauer, holzhauer@earthday.net – Brenna is Earth Day Network’s Education Coordinator. She assists in the continuation and creation of education programs and materials and communicates with EDN’s worldwide network of over 25,000 individuals and partners interested in environmental education and issues. Brenna has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Masters in the Art of Teaching in Museum Education from The George Washington University.

Sean S. Miller, miller@earthday.net – Sean is the Director of Education at Earth Day Network. He oversees the education programs and policies for students and educators, as well as the management of EDN’s National Environmental Education and Green School Campaigns. Prior to joining EDN in 2006, he received his BA in both Psychology and Philosophy from the College of William and Mary, and earned two Master’s Degrees in International Peace and Conflict Resolution (MA) and Education (MAT) from American University. Sean is also a national fellow with the TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership program at the National Audubon Society.

Project Directors at Alliance for Climate Education:

Ashlee Jensen, ashlee.jensen@climateeducation.org: Ashlee began working with ACE shortly after its incorporation in late July. After filling various roles within the ambitious start-up, Ashlee currently serves as a Program Developer and heads up ACE's School Grant and Scholarship Programs. Prior to joining ACE, Ashlee worked with Kaiser Permanente, The Daniels Fund, The Fresh Air Foundation, New York Senator Chuck Schumer at the DSCC and Chez Panisse. A Colorado native and proud Daniels Fund Scholar, Ashlee flew the coop in 2003 to attend New York University. While at NYU, Ashlee spent time volunteering in Africa and studying abroad in South America. She graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in Sociology. When not hard at work, Ashlee enjoys rock climbing, adventure seeking, and cooking scrumptious delights.

Emily Adler, emily.adler@climateeducation.org: Emily moved to the Bay Area after graduating Middlebury College in February 2008 with a BA in International Studies and a minor in Education. Emily grew up running around the woods in New England, and there her love of the environment was born. She has spent the years since trying to find the perfect balance between enjoying nature (by skiing, road biking, hiking, camping, kayaking, gardening, and more) and working to protect it as a young climate activist. Emily recently finished a year-long Fellowship through the Compton Foundation called the Compton Mentor Fellowship where she worked on two city-wide events with the same underlying theme: to open avenues of education for groups of underprivileged youth from the Bay Area to become active and involved in the youth climate movement.

John Bernhardt, john.bernhardt@climateeducation.org: As a native of Virginia, John has spent the past two decades outside Washington, D.C. John received a B.A. in Environmental Thought and Practice from the University of Virginia in May of 2008. While in Charlottesville, he found enjoyment working for the Southern Environmental Law Center on smart growth initiatives and the Piedmont Environmental Council on a Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. Shortly after graduating, the allure of San Francisco drew John West. He has happily landed in the Bay Area and is looking forward to building a youth movement to combat climate change. He also looks forward to seizing the title of ACE ping-pong champion with his Forest Gump-like precision. When not in ACE's Oakland office, you can find John exploring San Francisco, coaching a youth lacrosse team and honing his tennis skillz.

Kara Muraki, kara.muraki@climateeducation.org: Kara joined ACE shortly after graduating from Middlebury College in Vermont in 2008. A Bay Area resident all her life, Kara ventured east for both a dramatic change of scenery as well as to pursue her undergraduate studies in economics and environmental studies. Kara currently serves as a Program Developer as well as reigning Almond Pong champ. Her central efforts include developing ACE’s social network, serving as the resident doodler, and being the best seed crystal ACE has ever seen. When not expressing her passion about curbing global warming at ACE, Kara can be found climbing, snowboarding, swimming/floating, making weekend jaunts to Yosemite, and of course: devouring donuts.

Alisha Fowler, alisha.fowler@climateeducation.org: Alisha, a native of greater Philadelphia, graduated with a B.A. in geoscience and environmental studies from Hamilton College. Alisha is
working to deliver presentations this spring, as well as hone ACE's online and social media efforts. She can be found cruising in a Prius to Bay Area high schools, as well as biking to work
like a carbon neutral champ. Before joining ACE, Alisha worked in Communications with National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC, where she performed media work around a massive global warming campaign. Last summer, she served as a Summer Fellow with the Breakthrough Institute, a progressive think tank based in Oakland. Alisha also blogs at Watthead and ItsGettingHotInHere.

Contributing Editors:

Margy Goodman – Margy is an Environmental Studies major at The George Washington University and spent her 3rd-year summer as the Education Intern at Earth Day Network. She is interested in environmental education and green school initiatives and hopes to continue educating others on the importance of responsible environmental treatment.
Brenda Voloshin – As the Policy Intern at Earth Day Network, Brenda worked on several Congressional initiatives that would fund environmental education programs nationwide. She is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she studied Political Science and Environmental Studies. In the fall of 2009, she will begin service as an environmental educator in Paraguay through the Peace Corps.

Contributors

Elizabeth Alva, Dummybrunette67@aol.com – Elizabeth is a sophomore at Golden Valley High School in Bakersfield, CA and has recently delved into the environmental movement. She plans to continue hosting environmental awareness events throughout high school and hopefully her college career. She is very passionate about keeping our planet safe.

Varun Bansal, varun0625@gmail.com – Varun recently completed his senior year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA. As president of the
Environmental Impact Club, Varun organized a global warming rally, participated in Powershift’s lobby day, participated in an EDN-organized panel on school greening at DC GreenFest, and conducted letter-writing campaigns to ask legislators for stronger climate legislation. His most impressive accomplishment was the successful installation of a large-scale photovoltaic solar panel system on his school’s roof, where he obtained approval from the local school board and helped to raise over $56,000. Varun has been interning with the EPA and will attend Harvard University in the fall.

Claudia Corona, c3r3c@yahoo.com – Claudia recently graduated from CALS Early College High School in Los Angeles as a star AP Environmental student and Mean Green Team (MGT)
President. She has led the MGT this year with great success, winning the “Battle of the Schools” recycling competition sponsored by Generation Earth where she spoke to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Claudia’s work with MGT and her impeccable academic record was recently recognized by the Questbridge Organization, which awarded a full academic scholarship to Williams College in Massachusetts.

Alysa Darrenkamp – Alysa is a student at Reed Henderson High School in West Chester, PA. As a leader of Henderson’s Environmental Club, Alysa was responsible for organizing this year’s Power Down initiative. She is now helping other high schools in her area to promote Power Down Friday and school greening. Alysa also helped reduce and raise awareness of waste during Henderson High School’s end-of-the-year locker cleanout by organizing a school supply collection.

Elyse Goldberg – Between semesters at The George Washington University, Elyse spent her summer 2009 internship at Earth Day Network working with the Communications and Education Departments to write informational documents, webpages, blog entries and press information related to a range of environmental topics.

Sean Higbee – Sean is a recent graduate or the University of California at Santa Cruz where he was also the Green Campus Program Coordinator. Sean co-taught an action research team with the Education for Sustainable Living Program where he taught a group of students about energy conservation and assisted the students in on campus lighting retrofits, energy audits for family student housing, and the creation of a bike powered generator to be used at campus events. Sean is interested in a career in energy efficiency and LEED certification.

Keith Jenkins, keith.jenkins@rocketmail.com – Keith is a high school student at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C. He serves as the Green Club Public Relations Officer and manager of the school garden. Keith was a major instigator in his school garden project, generating student interest and continued success of the project.

Seth Kolker – Seth will be a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA. As Secretary of the school’s Solar Panel Initiative (SPI), he worked closely with other club members during the last two years to raise $56,000 towards installation of solar panels at his school. He has also managed the SPI’s public relations and outreach for the past two years, contacting media and giving interviews, and will become club President this year. Seth is studying alternative energy systems and plans to research and work to develop new sources of renewable energy.

Jill Krysinski, jkrysinski@sd206.org – Jill is a biology teacher at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, IL and has been teaching there for 10 years. Jill recently became passionate about the environment when a colleague started producing biofuels on their school campus. Since the 06- 07 year she has been learning and teaching about climate change and renewable energy. Jill is the director of the school Science Club and her students travel via her biodiesel bus to other schools to teach elementary students about climate change, burning fossil fuels, and the importance of renewable energy in our future. Jill is currently piloting a unit on brownfields for the Illinois EPA.

Bianca Locke – Bianca is a student of Environmental and Civil Engineering, was a City Volunteer and summer intern for the Environmental Services Department from the City of Pasadena, and supports and motivates young environmental leaders. Working and volunteering in Environmental Education, Bianca has trained children and teens to work with her performing environmental skits, fliers, games, computer presentations, etc. The largest project she has taken on was helping to put on the first Earth Day Festival her city had ever seen. The event was a huge success with over 2000 people, 49 booths, and 57 volunteers.

Jaclyn Lopez, jmarielopez@msn.com – Jaclyn is currently attending The University of California at Santa Cruz and plans to focus her studies on Environmental Studies. She attended CALS Early College High School and was one of the founding members of the Mean Green Team.

Ryan McLaren Ryan is the Campus Organizer at Earth Day Network where he helped 1,500 college campuses prepare for Earth Day 2009. A recent graduate of Wesleyan University, Ryan received his degree with Honors in American Studies focusing on the connection between American culture and politics. As a Congressional Coordinator for the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, Ryan helped students connect with their representatives at the Capitol via video conferencing.

Nicole Navratil, nicoleknavratil@gmail.com – As former music teacher at Sullivan Elementary in Phoenix, AZ, Nicole was one of Earth Day Network’s 2008-09 granted teachers. She helped host Earth Day Network for a major school greening project in February 2009 involving a successful solar panel system’s installation.

Kate Niederehe – Kate has worked at a high/low ropes challenge course called Hemlock Overlook Center for Experiential Education in Clifton, VA and is currently training at the Diakon Wilderness Center - a wilderness therapy program in Boiling Springs, PA.

Amy Jean Porter, sustainablefoodproject@yale.edu – Amy is a Yale graduate with a B.A in Humanities and currently works with the Yale Sustainable Food Project. She has a background in visual arts and many years of experience working and teaching in nonprofit organizations. Amy contributes administrative support to the Sustainable Food Project and will soon be assisting with special projects.

Elijah Sproles, elijahsproles@hotmail.com – Elijah is a talented visual art teacher for 2nd- 8th grade students McDonogh Elementary School for the Creative Arts in New Orleans. He is also the Teacher Leader Environmental Club for 6th-8th grade students. Recent projects Elijah has done with the school environmental club are: putting a green roof above the school library, starting an organic school garden and rain water recycling system for watering the garden, and planning a recycled art project with a visiting artist. In the coming year Elijah plans to lead his school in an environmental community project, a Louisiana Wetlands field trip, and a recycled garden art project.

Andy Stephens, stephensteach@hotmail.com – Andy currently teaches biology and physical science at New Vista High School in Boulder, CO. He has been teaching science for seven years, recently at CALS Early College High School in downtown Los Angeles where he also founded and sponsored the Mean Green Team. MGT’s projects have included many outdoor trips, river cleanups and air quality testing. Andy is currently halfway through his MS in geosciences from Mississippi State University. He incorporates environmental issues into all of his science classes and his goal is for all of his students to become better stewards of the world's ecosystems and activists improving the sustainability of Earth's biosphere.

Sarah Watson, swatson830@gmail.com – Sarah Watson is a senior at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She first became involved in environmental work when she joined her school's Envrionmental Impact Club in her sophomore year. She has worked extensively with the Thomas Jefferson Solar Panel Initaitive, which is one of the EIC's main projects and which in 2009 succeeded in putting solar panels on the roof of Thomas Jefferson. Sarah will be the president of EIC in her upcoming senior year. She hopes to study engineering in college and utilize the environmental policy making tools she has learned in her highschool environmentalist experience.