People

Sam - She/Her

Environmental Sustainability Teacher at High Meadows School in GA serving students in grades K-5

I am currently a PhD (DPhil) candidate at the University of Oxford in the Department of Education. My research focus, under the supervision of Dr. Ann Childs and Dr. Steve Puttick, is Environmental Education for students living in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

Gamal Sherif’s commitment to environmental education started in Philadelphia when he served as a high school science teacher. While teaching in an 80 year-old building with unhealthy indoor environmental quality, Gamal realized that this situation was neither just nor sustainable, and that curriculum, instruction, assessment, and policy should be aligned to improving students’ experiences.

Since then, Gamal has served as a curriculum director, a principal, and as a consultant the Center for Teaching Quality, the National Science Foundation, and the North American Association for Environmental Education. As a Program Manager with the environmental education nonprofit EcoRise, Gamal worked with educators, students, architects, and engineers to create a green building network replete with year-round professional development, equitably paid internships, and related credentialing.

Gamal has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from SUNY-Binghamton, a Masters in Teaching from Temple University, and a Master of Science in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2012, he was selected as a fellow with the U.S. Department of Education and since then, has provided guidance on national climate education policy and energy efficiency planning. In 2019, he became an ambassador with the United Nations’ #TeachSDG (i.e., Sustainable Development Goals) program. Gamal is also a credentialed LEED Green Associate.

Gamal and his family enjoy cooking, biking, and gardening. After years of replacing lawn with native perennials, shrubs, and trees, they turned their yard into a National Wildlife Federation-certified wildlife habitat.

I have nearly 20 years of experience in urban informal education and interpretation in New York City. I'm also interested in what 'bugs' you as I have a passion for insects and all creatures with 6 or more legs! I love introducing people to the natural world in a way they hadn't experienced before.

Jeanine Ancelet is the principal and co-founder of Audience Focus. She directs audience research and evaluation projects and guides strategic and interpretive planning initiatives for leading museums and cultural organizations across the country.  In her spare time, you can find her in nature serving as a Maryland Master Naturalist and Audubon Habitat Advisor.

Maggie Allen is an Education Specialist at NOAA's Office of Education, contracted through TechGlobal. Beginning her role in the office as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, she now coordinates grant and partnership programs, such as a network of 27 aquariums, that work to build a more environmentally literate society. Maggie has a B.A. in Environmental Sociology from Whitman College and a Master's in Marine and Environmental Affairs from the University of Washington, where her thesis focused on how partnerships and policy contributed to a successful indigenous-led social movement against a fossil fuel export terminal in the Pacific Northwest. Maggie has worked as a social scientist for NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, an AmeriCorps VISTA at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and as an environmental educator in the Florida Keys.

Environmental Education was a passion I discovered while an undergrad and dove in from there. Working to empower our youth to change the world around them for the better is what keeps me going every day. An education in peace and sustainability is necessary for the betterment of our tomorrow.