OUR PARTNERS
& AFFILIATIONS
INCLUDE:
Orion Grassroots Network
Shelburne Farms
Sustainable Schools Project
Forest for Every Classroom
Quebec Provincial CLC Initiative
CO-SEED, Antioch University, NE
Orion Magazine
Education for Sustainability Network
Vermont Rural Partnership
Arizona Learn and Serve
Vermont Community Garden Network
Thetford Academy
Johnson State College
National Gardening Association
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
National Service-Learning Partnership
University of Vermont
A Special Thanks to Mary Azarian
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CWI Staff and Associates
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Joe Brooks
Director, Core Faculty
Joe has worked with and supported students at every level, from the elementary grades through post graduate level. He is a veteran professional development leader and facilitator and has provided development and consulting support for K-16 schools, and regional and national initiatives. Joe has worked with educators from around the world, leading graduate level institutes for many years. Earlier in his career he taught middle school students in Vermont for twelve years while initiating and nurturing a nationally recognized K-12 service-learning and community partnership program. Among his longer term curriculum projects Joe developed a student published community newspaper which served local residents for more than fifteen years.
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Patricia Haggerty
Outreach Leader, Core Faculty
Pat brings a wealth of experience and knowledge as a classroom practitioner of service-learning and place-based education. She has been closley involved with CWI for nearly a decade as an Institute core faculty member. Pat has a long and successful background as a veteran school administrator, assistent superintendent, and classroom teacher of many grade levels. and as an energetic supporter of service-learning at the regional and national level. She is a founding member of the Massachusetts Service-Learning Partnership and a former Christa McAuliffe Fellow who used service-learning as the platform for her fellowship.
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Rick Cota
Sustainability Consultant, Faculty Member
Rick
is currently the Nutrition Services Director for Claremont Unified School District (CUSD) in California where he has initiated highly innovative changes which are catching the attention of school districts nationwide. He has forged crucial partnerships with local sustainability groups and higher education. With his partners, Rick has worked collaboratively to set the standard for healthy and sustainable food practices. CUSD now has organic working school gardens throughout the district and is one of the only “Styrofoam Free” school districts in California. The organic school gardens are also part of a K-12 service-learning partnership involving students and community members. Rick has proven that you can be healthy, sustainable and be fiscally sound. Rick lives in Southern California with his wife and their three children, being often found on the softball diamond or soccer fields with his daughters.
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Mary Whalen
Youth Voice Consultant, Faculty Member
Mary is a veteran high school history teacher who has worked extensively with student voice and participation as democratizing principles in her classroom. She and her students have compiled a diverse array of experiences as participants in service-learning projects both locally and nationally. Mary brings first hand experience and professional passion to the question of how we create and nurture meaningful student voice within the constraints of a typical classroom and school. She is also a recent recipient of a Rowland Fellowship for Declaring Ourselves! an action research project concerning civic engagement in the 21st Century. Service-Learning, Participatory Action Research and Live Video Collaboration is her current focus. She currently teaches at Twinfield Union School in Plainfield, Vermont.
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Iyaunna Towery-Ajiduah
Faculty Member
Iyaunna has been an educator for well over a decade, teaching elementary to high school students, and adults, in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Iyaunna's work has taken her well beyond the classroom; coordinating nutritional workshops, facilitating parent literacy and math workshops, and providing after-school tutoring. She is a veteran professional development leader, sharing demonstration lessons, offering workshops on various teaching strategies, mentoring and coaching both veteran and student teachers. Iyaunna has also contributed to the decision making process with LAUSD schools by serving as the Chairperson of the School Site Council, Lead Teacher on the Leadership Team, and President of the PTO. In focusing on service-learning as teaching strategy, Iyaunna has always strived to increase academic achievement and improve student behavior while engaging students in both curriculum content and service within their community. Her current work focuses on engaging Los Angeles County students in service-learning based curriculum and projects. Iyaunna is also the founder and director of Empowering Services Through Partnerships (ESP), a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit whose mission is to improve the quality of education of all students in Los Angeles County.
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Cynthia Hughes
Faculty Member
Cynthia is a veteran educator with more than thirty years in the field. Her experience includes serving as a public school classroom teacher and reading specialist in Vermont, where she is currently a Library Media Specialist for the Springfield School District. Cynthia has also worked extensively over the years as an environmental educator, and music teacher. Her work with children has always hadat its heart a hands-on approach to fostering a sense of place and connection to the natural world. She has designed both classroom and library curricula that integrates service-learning and nature studies with literacy standards. As a faculty member with the educational nonprofit Community Works Institute (CWI), Cynthia has facilitated numerous professional development events and led a series of weeklong service-learning institutes for elementary students. Cynthia was a member of the original team of educators who developed CWI's Connecting Service-Learning to the Curriculum. She also enjoys composing and performing music.
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Marita Prandoni
Sponsorship Manager
Marita
has a passion for exploring different cultures and worldviews. She draws inspiration from her family, tutoring extraordinary youth, meeting unexpected heroes and from the stunning natural beauty of her home turf in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico. Marita is an accomplished writer and blogger. She coordinates and develops CWI's online sponsorship program and is a contributing writer with Community Works Journal.
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Susan Bonthron
Co-Editor, Community Works Journal
Susan has provided technical assistance and support for service-learning to schools throughout New England. She has co-designed and taught graduate level institutes on service-learning. Susan has also worked extensively with the National Study Group on Service-Learning and Assessment, Vermont Rural Partnership, and others. She volunteered for many years as a founder and advisor for the widely acclaimed Guilford Gazette, a community newspaper published by middle school students.
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Ziad El Gamal
New Media Marketing Intern
Ziad is supporting CWI's efforts to broaden our reach to new media market areas. He has enabled us to work forward from his knowledge of social media and social networks, as well as creative strategy development, marketing techniques, and public relations. Ziad holds a BS in Business and Marketing from Bishops University in Quebec.
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Susan Hessey
Educational Advisor
Susan is Librarian/Media Specialist at Guilford Central School in southern Vermont. Susan has been working in public school libraries for more than twenty years. In her work at Guilford she has provided curriculum development support for service-learning projects K-8, and helped to document the outcomes. Susan has an M.Ed from Antioch New England Graduate School, is active in literacy initiatives and information literacy curriculum development at the state and district level and is a past contributor to Community Works Journal and a long time veteran of Community Works Institute.
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Martha Jane Rich
Educational Advisor, Faculty Member
Head of School at Thetford Academy in Vermont for the past twelve years. Thetford is a National Service-Learning Leader School with a long history of service-learning that is still evolving and growing. Martha’s collaborative leadership style has enabled Thetford’s staff to develop a rich and diverse approach to service-learning within a shared framework. She has fostered local study groups, summer institutes and other innovative means for staff and student development in the Thetford community.
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David Sobel
Contributing Editor, Community Works Journal
Guest Faculty Member
David is a preeminent voice and writer for integrating place-based education in American schools. He is a core faculty member and director of Teacher Certification programs at Antioch University New England and he was identified as one of the 2007 Daring Dozen educators in the United States by Edutopia Magazine. He has served as a staff development and curriculum consultant for public and independent schools and has been a keynote speaker for many colleges, national conferences, state agencies and environmental organizations. He serves on the editorial board of the journal, Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice and is the author of Children's Special Places, Beyond Ecophobia,and other books. He has written many articles on children and nature including regular essays in Community Works Journal on Place and Education.
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Jen Cirillo
Shelburne Farms Liaison
Guest Faculty Member
Jen is the Professional Development Director at Shelburne Farms, and past Coordinator of Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Schools Project (SSP) Jen provides hands-on support and professional development to classroom teachers at SSP's pilot schools. During her graduate studies she focused on community sustainability and education and experienced the power of service-learning first hand. As a former coordinator for a city wide sustainability project in Burlington, VT Jen brings a strong background in organizing community improvement projects to her work with schools. She has worked with many local schools and non-profit education programs in Vermont to enhance school-community partnerships and service-learning opportunities. Jen is a contributing editor for Community Works Journal.
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Marc Chabot
Guest Faculty Member
Marc is the science teacher at Thetford Academy in Vermont and has taught high school chemistry and/or physics for twenty years. His curriculum includes several excellent examples of service-learning, among them the Physics Problem-Solving Unit. He was a Christa McAuliffe fellow based on his project “Reaching Mainstreamed Students in Chemistry using Computers.” Marc was awarded the Radioshack National Teacher Award in 2004 and was a state finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2002. He has trained as a National Facilitator for the National School Reform Faculty.
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Jen Kramer
Guest Faculty Member
Jen is currently a middle school social studies teacher, exploring the history of the world, the U.S. and local Vermont history with her students. She previously taught 6th grade as well as a 5/6 combination. A major focus of her teaching has always been on making local history and culture relevant to her students through service-learning and place-based teaching projects. |
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