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Instructor Biography
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.
Teacher Workshops
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