Kathleen M. Rocco has been known as a camp counselor, riding instructor, camp director, environmental educator and mentor to children and adults for more than fifteen years. Indirect titles given in the above jobs include fire starter, storyteller, toilet cleaner, dish washer, table mover, finder of lost items, flagger, greeter, cook, peace maker, salary calculator, nurse, tree hugger and motivator. For five summer seasons and four years, Kathleen worked for YMCAs in Ohio, Michigan, New York and Delaware building children's self esteem and their knowledge about the outdoors and the environment.

Kathleen has completed a Masters of Environmental Studies through The Institute of Environmental Sciences from Miami University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Dayton. Her favorite courses during college and graduate school were hands-on learning experiences studying ecology in the Florida Keys, Sapelo Island Georgia, Lake Erie, Smokey Mountains and Costa Rica, and a year long public service project on preserving green space along the Four Mile Creek Corridor. As a teaching intern for Sterling College's Southwest Field Program, Kathleen learned first hand about how experiential education deepens learning for adults through taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing and sweat. The group traveled for ten weeks camping and learning about Southwest ecology and culture and water and land management in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

Since October of 2000, Kathleen has been the Education Specialist for the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, where she teaches students and the general public about recycling and environment. She has visited more than 115 classrooms or groups sharing an environmental message with over 10,500 students and adults. As a teacher trainer for Windows on Waste and Leopold Education Project, Kathleen has conducted four teacher workshops reaching 68 teachers. "Start Students Recycling" is her first publication for the District, while she has revised "Teaching the Loop" and "Teachin Trash." She contributes stories to the quarterly newsletter called Trash Talk, which reaches 8,000 students in 50 schools across Cuyahoga County.