The suburbs of New York City and the beaches of New Jersey were my stomping grounds as a kid, the oldest of two boys born to Deaf parents. I became immersed in the Deaf subculture and through my parents had an extended family of great friends. My grandparents lived in a beautiful English Tudor home directly across the street from my elementary school and I spent half my time there and the other half two blocks away at my home. I lived on a hill and my street was a popular spot for sledding after a good snowfall. Music has always been a big part of my life and songs often evoke memories of places, people, events or moments. Long bike rides, pick-up games of football or softball, days at the beach and hiking in the mountains, drawing comics or cartoons and time with friends framed my early years. I grew up in a time when most parents did not know what you did all day, as long as you were home on time do eat dinner and get your homework done. Being "plugged in" in those days meant watching one of thirteen channels on TV or listening to the radio, which I still do to this day - music, sports and talk - on Sirius XM.
While in high school I became very interested in geology and even chose it as a major when I entered college as a freshman. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from West Virginia University. Morgantown was a great place to experience undergraduate life and one of the hilliest places I've ever experienced up until then. At the beginning of my second semester there, my dad, someone I greatly loved and admired, passed away at age 44 from cancer. Having such supportive friends and getting involved with PIRG (Public interest Research Group) helped quell the pain as a new chapter of my life was launched. After graduation, I spent much of the decade of the eighties in Vermont where I enjoyed a few careers and avocations. As a hydrogeologist, I worked for a firm whose mission was to ensure that Vermont's stringent environmental laws were followed. My field work included stream gauging and well pump tests for the assessment of surface and groundwater availability for snow making at ski resorts. If a ski resort was to expand, whether snow making or adding condos, water was needed. It really sunk in that water is our most precious resource and each one of us should strive to be good stewards. I also worked as a radio announcer/DJ in Stowe, Montpelier and Burlington, the latter as a student at the University of Vermont, where I became certified to teach middle and high school science. During this time on the radio, I wrote and produced several public service announcements that address environmental issues. I considered science education as my next path and pursued at UVM in the late eighties. It seemed my interests were wide and diverse so I pursued a certification to teach middle and high school science.
In the late eighties, North Carolina was being pumped up as a great place to live. Weary of winters that seemed to never end, I relocated to Raleigh. During the administration of Governor Hunt, who was a great supporter of education and other progressive initiatives, I thrived at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science where I was encouraged to be imaginative and creative, as part of a team or "think tank" of educators. We designed hands-on, inquiry-based science programs that we brought to most of Durham Public Schools (at the time there were two systems - county and city). Our classroom programs were an hour long and students of all ages looked forward to our visits. Teachers came to the museum for workshops, which we designed and led, in order to prepare their students for our visits. We also provided post-visit activities for teachers. Our programs went beyond Durham, in fact, to every corner of the state. One of the first programs I was assigned to carry out was "Starlab," a portable, inflatable planetarium. While I knew some astronomy, this led me to do my own "crash course" in the night sky. Astronomy is something I love to this day, in fact, with a friend, I am currently designing an outdoor astronomical observatory. While at the museum, I also created and led "Geotreks" throughout our area and throughout the state. This is something I still do to this day with another friend, who is a professor at a local community college. She and I co-lead monthly geology field trips once per month on Saturdays. Our fall trips include excursions to the mountains for mineral collecting as well as the beach. If you would like to be added to my contact to receive field trip announcements, please send an email to [email protected] (note that this is a different one from the one I use for school correspondence).
After almost five years at a job I absolutely loved, I decided to try teaching in the public schools. My first gig was teaching eighth grade science at McDougle Middle School, which was my home for four years. I continued sharing my interest in geology and astronomy with field trips that included parents, students and other teachers. One of my favorite places to take groups is Pocahontas County, West Virginia. I did my undergraduate field work in that beautiful part of the country and love showing it off, whether the pristine Cranberry Backcountry or the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank. In the year 2000, I "graduated" with my current students and moved up to Chapel Hill High School, where I served as a science teacher for 14 years. I carved a niche as a school-community event and project facilitator. While there, I guided a group of students who wrote several grants and got funded to build a biodiesel fuel processor. I organized a number of Earth Day events as well as several Celebrations of Earth and Sky. In 2004, I was selected for the yearbook tribute, which was one of the greatest honors I've ever received. Several Spring Break field trips stand out - Death Valley National Park (2007) and the Galapagos (2011). During my time at CHHS, I joined the North Carolina Science Leadership Association and later on NC-CLIMATE. In 2007, I was awarded the honor of North Carolina's Outstanding Earth Science Teacher. The same year, I began working on my Masters of Science in Science Education degree through Montana State University in Bozeman. During the school year, my classes were online, but in the summers of 2007 and 2009, I lived in Bozeman and took the most amazing field classes including: Dinosaur Paleontology of Hell Creek Canyon and The Biodiversity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. During those two summers I visited Yellowstone National Park as part of my field studies over two dozen times! My Capstone project is entitled: Engaging High School Students through Scientific Research in the Community. In 2011, I was awarded several grants for the CHHS Water Sustainability Initiative, which included designing and building a rain garden and bioswale, both of which alleviate flooding by storm water, which was a perpetual problem at my former school.
One of my goals is to connect interested students to a non-profit (now international) founded by students at the University of Central Florida called IDEAS (Intellectual Discussions on Environmental Awareness Solutions). This opportunity has launched for students a lifetime interest in environmental studies and/or policy making and has been the foundation of successful careers. Through my connection with IDEAS, I started up the Earth and Sky Trail Club at Hawbridge.
My wife, Jerri, and I are both photographers and I will often assist her - Girl With 3 Dogs Photography girlwith3dogsphotography.com
We share a love for animals and through the business raise awareness of and donate our time and resources to animal rescue. While Jerri's photography assignments include the usual - weddings, graduations, special events, she also takes exceptional photographs of rescued dogs and cats to increase their chances of being adopted. We also donate our time to Freedom Train Animal Rescue Transports, an organization that rescues dogs from shelters and helps bring them to places where they're adopted. They are always looking for volunteer drivers. Here is their web site link: http://www.freedomtraintransports.com/. We also support and volunteer at Paws 4 Ever, a no kill shelter near Mebane. Here is their web site: http://www.paws4ever.org/ We share our home with five dogs - Bear-Bear (Chow-Retriever mix, almost 17), Johnny (lab mix), Luna (mini-pinscher), Gadget (very small dog, who knows?) and our latest addition, a 3 y.o. yellow lab named Kasey.
Jerri and I are very involved in the upbringing of our two grandchildren, six and four-year-olds, who live nearby. We take them on hikes and have done camping, with the hope of instilling in them our love of nature. Sans kids, my "free time" is spent taking care of our gardens, bike riding, golf, tennis, pingpong, reading and watching historical and music documentaries and baseball.
Thanks for taking the time to read my bio. I am truly looking forward to a wonderful year of teaching your children. Please know that I love parent involvement and will do my best to keep you informed. If you have knowledge or experiences related to the curriculum that you'd like to share with my students, please send me an email at [email protected] For many years, I've kept students and parents informed through a web site with a class calendar as well as through messages sent about twice per month. I want parents to know what their children are learning in school as well as academic obligations such as assignments and projects. If a team is formed that includes the student, the teacher and parents, guardians or mentors, the chance of success and transformation increases greatly. Thanks for being part of the "team!"
While in high school I became very interested in geology and even chose it as a major when I entered college as a freshman. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from West Virginia University. Morgantown was a great place to experience undergraduate life and one of the hilliest places I've ever experienced up until then. At the beginning of my second semester there, my dad, someone I greatly loved and admired, passed away at age 44 from cancer. Having such supportive friends and getting involved with PIRG (Public interest Research Group) helped quell the pain as a new chapter of my life was launched. After graduation, I spent much of the decade of the eighties in Vermont where I enjoyed a few careers and avocations. As a hydrogeologist, I worked for a firm whose mission was to ensure that Vermont's stringent environmental laws were followed. My field work included stream gauging and well pump tests for the assessment of surface and groundwater availability for snow making at ski resorts. If a ski resort was to expand, whether snow making or adding condos, water was needed. It really sunk in that water is our most precious resource and each one of us should strive to be good stewards. I also worked as a radio announcer/DJ in Stowe, Montpelier and Burlington, the latter as a student at the University of Vermont, where I became certified to teach middle and high school science. During this time on the radio, I wrote and produced several public service announcements that address environmental issues. I considered science education as my next path and pursued at UVM in the late eighties. It seemed my interests were wide and diverse so I pursued a certification to teach middle and high school science.
In the late eighties, North Carolina was being pumped up as a great place to live. Weary of winters that seemed to never end, I relocated to Raleigh. During the administration of Governor Hunt, who was a great supporter of education and other progressive initiatives, I thrived at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science where I was encouraged to be imaginative and creative, as part of a team or "think tank" of educators. We designed hands-on, inquiry-based science programs that we brought to most of Durham Public Schools (at the time there were two systems - county and city). Our classroom programs were an hour long and students of all ages looked forward to our visits. Teachers came to the museum for workshops, which we designed and led, in order to prepare their students for our visits. We also provided post-visit activities for teachers. Our programs went beyond Durham, in fact, to every corner of the state. One of the first programs I was assigned to carry out was "Starlab," a portable, inflatable planetarium. While I knew some astronomy, this led me to do my own "crash course" in the night sky. Astronomy is something I love to this day, in fact, with a friend, I am currently designing an outdoor astronomical observatory. While at the museum, I also created and led "Geotreks" throughout our area and throughout the state. This is something I still do to this day with another friend, who is a professor at a local community college. She and I co-lead monthly geology field trips once per month on Saturdays. Our fall trips include excursions to the mountains for mineral collecting as well as the beach. If you would like to be added to my contact to receive field trip announcements, please send an email to [email protected] (note that this is a different one from the one I use for school correspondence).
After almost five years at a job I absolutely loved, I decided to try teaching in the public schools. My first gig was teaching eighth grade science at McDougle Middle School, which was my home for four years. I continued sharing my interest in geology and astronomy with field trips that included parents, students and other teachers. One of my favorite places to take groups is Pocahontas County, West Virginia. I did my undergraduate field work in that beautiful part of the country and love showing it off, whether the pristine Cranberry Backcountry or the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank. In the year 2000, I "graduated" with my current students and moved up to Chapel Hill High School, where I served as a science teacher for 14 years. I carved a niche as a school-community event and project facilitator. While there, I guided a group of students who wrote several grants and got funded to build a biodiesel fuel processor. I organized a number of Earth Day events as well as several Celebrations of Earth and Sky. In 2004, I was selected for the yearbook tribute, which was one of the greatest honors I've ever received. Several Spring Break field trips stand out - Death Valley National Park (2007) and the Galapagos (2011). During my time at CHHS, I joined the North Carolina Science Leadership Association and later on NC-CLIMATE. In 2007, I was awarded the honor of North Carolina's Outstanding Earth Science Teacher. The same year, I began working on my Masters of Science in Science Education degree through Montana State University in Bozeman. During the school year, my classes were online, but in the summers of 2007 and 2009, I lived in Bozeman and took the most amazing field classes including: Dinosaur Paleontology of Hell Creek Canyon and The Biodiversity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. During those two summers I visited Yellowstone National Park as part of my field studies over two dozen times! My Capstone project is entitled: Engaging High School Students through Scientific Research in the Community. In 2011, I was awarded several grants for the CHHS Water Sustainability Initiative, which included designing and building a rain garden and bioswale, both of which alleviate flooding by storm water, which was a perpetual problem at my former school.
One of my goals is to connect interested students to a non-profit (now international) founded by students at the University of Central Florida called IDEAS (Intellectual Discussions on Environmental Awareness Solutions). This opportunity has launched for students a lifetime interest in environmental studies and/or policy making and has been the foundation of successful careers. Through my connection with IDEAS, I started up the Earth and Sky Trail Club at Hawbridge.
My wife, Jerri, and I are both photographers and I will often assist her - Girl With 3 Dogs Photography girlwith3dogsphotography.com
We share a love for animals and through the business raise awareness of and donate our time and resources to animal rescue. While Jerri's photography assignments include the usual - weddings, graduations, special events, she also takes exceptional photographs of rescued dogs and cats to increase their chances of being adopted. We also donate our time to Freedom Train Animal Rescue Transports, an organization that rescues dogs from shelters and helps bring them to places where they're adopted. They are always looking for volunteer drivers. Here is their web site link: http://www.freedomtraintransports.com/. We also support and volunteer at Paws 4 Ever, a no kill shelter near Mebane. Here is their web site: http://www.paws4ever.org/ We share our home with five dogs - Bear-Bear (Chow-Retriever mix, almost 17), Johnny (lab mix), Luna (mini-pinscher), Gadget (very small dog, who knows?) and our latest addition, a 3 y.o. yellow lab named Kasey.
Jerri and I are very involved in the upbringing of our two grandchildren, six and four-year-olds, who live nearby. We take them on hikes and have done camping, with the hope of instilling in them our love of nature. Sans kids, my "free time" is spent taking care of our gardens, bike riding, golf, tennis, pingpong, reading and watching historical and music documentaries and baseball.
Thanks for taking the time to read my bio. I am truly looking forward to a wonderful year of teaching your children. Please know that I love parent involvement and will do my best to keep you informed. If you have knowledge or experiences related to the curriculum that you'd like to share with my students, please send me an email at [email protected] For many years, I've kept students and parents informed through a web site with a class calendar as well as through messages sent about twice per month. I want parents to know what their children are learning in school as well as academic obligations such as assignments and projects. If a team is formed that includes the student, the teacher and parents, guardians or mentors, the chance of success and transformation increases greatly. Thanks for being part of the "team!"