Educating Tomorrow

Founders

Coquille Houshour, M.S.Ed., M.S.Ed.
Technology Teacher, Ronald Edmonds Learning Center, Brooklyn, NY
Co-Founder, Educating Tomorrow
Co-Chair, UFT Green Schools Committee

Coquille Houshour grew up in Oregon and earned a BA in Environmental Studies and International Studies from the University of Oregon where she worked with the campus recycling team. As part of her studies, she volunteered in England through Willing Workers on Organic Farms, at The Agroforestry Research Center in Belize and on Costa Rican coffee farms through The Earth Island Institute. After working with non-profits around human rights, she became a New York City Teaching Fellow, receiving Masters in Teaching in 2005.  She has incorporated environmental awareness into her curriculum, including composting in her classroom and implementing a school-wide recycling programs. In its first year, her previous school won the NYC Department of Sanitation’s Golden Apple Super Recyclers award for the borough of Brooklyn. Her environmental educational projects received of grants from Captain Planet, the Go Green Initiative and Target. Concerned that most NYC schools were not recycling, she co-founded Educating Tomorrow in 2007 and the UFT Green Schools Committee in 2008 to help make NYC schools more eco-friendly. In June 2008, she testified before the NYC Council about the lack of recycling in NYC schools. That same year, she received her MA in Education Administration with the hopes of starting a model eco-school in NYC. In the meantime, she is working on getting her current school recycling, gardening and composting. She is a certified Master Composter and Globe teacher. She is also an active member of Sustainable Flatbush, regularly speaks at Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board meetings and works on the Park Slope Food Coop Recycling Squad. You can reach her at coquille@educatingtomorrow.org.

Micki Josi, M.S.Ed.
Math Teacher, Math & Science Exploratory School, Brooklyn, NY
Co-Founder, Educating Tomorrow
Co-Chair, UFT Green Schools Committee

Micki Josi grew up near Portland, Oregon, considered one of the greenest U.S. cities. She received a BS from the University of Oregon in Psychology. She then spent a few years as an Americorps VISTA in Oregon and New York working with credit union micro-loan programs. In 2002, she joined the New York City Teaching Fellows Program, received a Masters in Education from St. John's University in 2004, and has been teaching middle school mathematics for more than 6 years. As a teacher, she has written and received grants for her schools to start, manage and maintain a school-wide recycling program. The recycling program in her previous school received Honorable Mention in the Golden Apple Super Recycler Awards from the NYC Department of Sanitation two years in a row. Frustrated by the lack of recycling in NYC schools, she co-founded Educating Tomorrow in 2007 and the UFT Green Schools Committee in 2008.  She is working to raise awareness about waste in NYC schools and to bring about solutions by educating students about the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling and composting.  She has planned many lessons for her students related to these topics and seeks to share ideas with other like-minded people. You can reach her at micki@educatingtomorrow.org.

Educator Leadership Team

Jacqulyn Bodenmiller, M.S.Ed.
Teacher, Harlem Renaissance High School, New York, New York

Jacqulyn Bodenmiller graduated from SUNY New Paltz with a bachelor degree in environmental and organismal biology. She joined the New York Teaching Fellows in 2005, teaching Living Environment and Urban Ecology with a focus on teaching students about their urban environment and how they can make positive changes. They learn about recycling, its importance and how to initiate it at home.  Jacqulyn continues to have a desire to green her school.  She recently initiated a water quality testing program in her school. She has had a passion for the environment for many years and wanted to teach her students and coworkers the importance of having a sustainable school. You can reach her at jbodenmiller@gmail.com.

Shannon Buckley-Shaklee, M.A., M.S.
Teacher, PS 160, Brooklyn, NY

Shannon Buckley-Shaklee is a 4th year push-in ESL teacher at PS 160 in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Frustrated by the lack of recycling in her school, Shannon and colleague Juliana Germak started a school-wide, student-operated recycling program in the fall of 2006. In addition to maintaining the recycling program, Shannon co-advises an Environmental Club, comprised of 4th and 5th grade students, and she co-teaches a period of environmental education. As a leader in her school's environmental programming and curriculum development, Shannon has been involved in school-wide projects that have included a coat drive, a used-crayon campaign, book exchanges, recycling contests, and eco-themed school-wide assemblies. In 2007, P.S. 160 was awarded the Department of Sanitation's Golden Apple Award for Brooklyn in the Reduce and Reuse Challenge. The winning monies were used to buy instructional materials addressing eco-friendly themes, including copies of The Lorax for PS 160's Book of the Month program. Shannon has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois, a M.A. in International Education Policy from the University of Maryland, and a M.S. in TESOL from Long Island University in Brooklyn. Prior to becoming a New York City Teaching Fellow, Shannon worked in higher education. You can reach her at shannonbs@gmail.com.

Juliana Germak, M.S.Ed.
Teacher, P.S. 160, Borough Park, Brooklyn

Juliana Germak graduated from New York University in 2005 with a B.A. in Anthropology and Linguistics.  She immediately entered into the New York City Teaching Fellows program as an ESL teacher.  In 2007, she earned an M.S. in TESOL from Long Island University in Brooklyn.  In her three years of teaching at P.S. 160 in Borough Park, Brooklyn, she has been a leader in the school's environmental programming and curriculum development.  In the spring of 2006, Juliana and colleague, Shannon Buckley-Shaklee, initiated an after school Environmental Club for 35 fourth and fifth grade students.  The following year, the Environmental Club took on the responsibility of starting a school-wide, student-initiated recycling program.  They continue to maintain the recycling program through recycling education and collaboration with the school's faculty, administration, and custodial staff.  The Environmental Club has also organized projects to promote reducing and reusing, including a school-wide book exchange and coat drive.  The Club has also partnered with local non-profit organization, the Green Apple Corps, to explore and help clean up Prospect Park.  In 2007, P.S. 160 was awarded the Department of Sanitation's Golden Apple Award for the Borough of Brooklyn in the Reduce and Reuse Challenge. You can reach her at julianagermak@gmail.com.

Hope Kitts, M.S.Ed.
Teacher, Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, Brooklyn, NY

Hope was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM.  She moved to New York in 2002 to study Philosophy at The New School.  After graduating she received a teaching position through the New York City Teaching Fellows program.  She is currently in her second year, co-teaching Global History, United States History, English and Sustainable Agriculture.  She is working to help her school reach its full potential as an environmental school.  Her efforts have resulted in the formation of a peer-based Environmental Committee for the purposes of educating others about environmental and environmental justice issues.  The group is primarily responsible for the recycling program; mediating between students, faculty, administration and custodial staff so that recycling happens as effectively as possible. Additionally, she co-teaches an interdisciplinary, hands-on class in Sustainable Agriculture. This semester, students grew a lettuce mix in the Children's Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, harvested the mix and served it to students in the cafeteria, while promoting sustainable, locally grown food.  She has further ambitions to improve the sustainability of the school by installing a green roof on the building, extending peer-education and awareness programs to younger students at neighboring schools, and reforming the school lunch from conventional subsidized suppliers to sustainably grown, tasty and nutritious food. You can contact her at singingbowl.hope@gmail.com.

Mitchell Porcelan
Teacher, MS 51, Park Slope, Brooklyn NY

Mitchell Porcelan is committed to helping his school 'go green' by developing ecological literacy and connecting students to the natural world.  He has organized multiple environmental activities while teaching at MS 51.  He helped create a school garden that acts as an outdoor learning center, with native plants that attract butterflies, insects, and birds. To study local biodiversity and better understand the problem of pollution in their community, students have canoed the Gowanus Canal, located just a few blocks from his school.  To celebrate staff members who are reducing waste at MS 51, he is developing a 'Green Award of the Week'. He continues to invite important speakers to his school, including Lyle Laverty, Asst. Secretary of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, who spoke on the importance of getting outside and connecting to the natural world; and Mike Brune, Director of the San Francisco office of the Rainforest Action Network, to discuss his new book Coming Clean and the importance of student activism around pollution and environmental damage. Currently, his school is developing a waste reduction, reuse, and recycling program, including purchasing recycled paper on all big orders. As their year-end science fair project, classes will monitor their school's waste stream in and out of the school.  They will also sell re-usable steel water bottles to reduce the use of plastic and raise funds for their annual 3-day environmental education field trip to the Ashokan Field Campus in the Catskill Mountains where they will explore the Catskill ecosystem, hike through the forest, conduct a pond study, collect biodiversity data, and take part in food waste reduction activities. Currently, Mitchell is planning a trip to the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming where advanced students will conduct ecological field research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and he will be starting a student chapter of RAN in Spring 2009.  You can reach him at mporce@yahoo.com.

Justin LeWinter, M.S.Ed.
Mathematics Teacher, Oliver Wendell Holmes Intermediate School
UFT Chapter Leader

Justin LeWinter grew up on Long Island and received a B.S. in Recreation and Park Management from Penn State University.  Upon graduating he moved to Pittsburgh, PA where he worked for a non-profit, managing a federal AmeriCorps grant and providing training and technical assistance to runaway and homeless youth programs throughout the mid-atlantic region. The needs of these youth and families touched almost every other human service system (mental health, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, substance abuse, health, etc). It required its own support system for coordination, training, networking, development of new technology and advocacy and in particular, to maintain an inter-disciplinary dialogue that put the needs of young people first. Returning to NY he developed a service-learning program for middle school students on Long Island.  He later received a M.S in Education from St. Johns University and has been teaching mathematics in NYC public schools for the past 4 years. Prior to earning tenure he stepped forward to become the UFT Chapter chair.  He has worked with his students to promote environmental stewardship and develop a community of active citizens.  He looks forward to working with Educating Tomorrow and chapter leaders citywide to green their schools. You can reach him at jlewinter@gmail.com.