Our Faculty

Co-directors

Dr. Janaki Natarajan Dr. Natarajan is an educator/activist who has taught in Tanzania, China, South India, Washington D.C., and currently directs the Spark Teacher Education Institute. MORE NEEDED.

Mikaela Simms BIO?

Faculty

Nicole Awwad is a high school Academic Resource teacher. She is a graduate of the Spark program and holds an MA in Sustainable Development from the School of International Training. She has 4 years experience working with local NGOs as a grant writer and communications manager. As a teacher, critical analysis of the world informs her practice. By inviting student experience into the classroom she works to elicit meaningful connection and build content knowledge and understanding.

Nina Kunimoto is a doctoral student in Urban Education, Leadership and Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her area of research is social justice teacher preparation programs. She is also a Spark alum. She teaches Global Social Problems and Race, Class and Gender at the Community College of Vermont. Her teaching experience includes secondary social studies and she has taught internationally in Japan, India and in refugee camps in Thailand.

Anna Mullany is a doctoral student in Public Health at the University of MA, Amherst. The focus of her work is around the political economy of rural poverty, criminality, and health. She also teaches courses on Health Communication and Population Health and Imperialism to undergraduates in the Public Health Department at UMass, Amherst. Prior to her studies at UMass, Amherst she worked for 6 years at the Women’s Freedom Center in Brattleboro, VT – a crisis center responding to domestic and sexual violence.

Maresa Nielson is a 2nd grade teacher in Springfield, VT. She is a 2013 graduate of the Spark program and has an action-research background in elementary pedagogy, with a focus on literacy. Maresa has taught grades pre-K through 4 in southern Vermont, Massachusetts, and Uganda. She holds a Master of Arts in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management from the School for International Training.

Becca Polk – is a middle school social studies teacher and a graduate of the Spark Teacher Education Institute. She is working to help her students critically examine their own thoughts and the world, in order to help make the world a better place, not just for the few wealthy people, but for all people.

Cory Sorensen is a Spark Alumni and licensed K-6 grade teacher. He is currently teaching fourth grade at Guilford Central School in Guilford, Vermont. He is actively involved in both school and district wide Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice committees. In his teaching, he places an emphasis on project-based instruction, outdoor education, and local history.

Alum Highlights

Highlights

Bethany Hobbs, Spark Alumni, has been teaching at Four Rivers Public Charter School in Greenfield, MA and her lesson on the Mexican-American War is featured in Zinn Education Project: Moving Interactive People’s History Lessons Online – Massachusetts Students Study War with Mexico.

Cory Sorensen, Spark Alumni, teaches at Guilford Central School in Vermont where he invited Abenaki artist, activist, and educator Judy Dow to work with his 4th and 5th grade classes on mapping Vermont eugenicists. Student work will be displayed at Brooks Memorial Library.
Listen to VPR’s (Vermont Public Radio) coverage of Cory and Judy’s project.

Read “Spiraling Through History and into the Future” in the Brattleboro Reformer

Becca Polk, Spark alumni, teaches at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vermont.

Where Are Spark Alums Today?
Listen to Spark graduates talk about how Spark influences their work today.

Atasi Das, Graduated 2009, Doctoral Candidate at the City University of New York Urban Education Program

Henry Zacchini, Graduated 2010, Social Studies Teacher at Brattleboro Union High School in Brattleboro, VTAudio Player00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Derek Johnson, Graduated 2013, 4th Grade Teacher at Adelphi Elementary School in Adelphi, MarylandAudio Player00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Ari Adelstein, Graduated 2015, English Department Head and English Teacher at Van Sickle Academy in Springfield, MAAudio Player00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Olivia Bregani, Graduated 2017, Social Studies Teacher at Contoocook Valley Regional High School in Peterborough, NHAudio Player00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

Hannah Cummins, Graduated 2018, Social Studies Teacher at Four Rivers Charter School in Greenfield, MAAudio Player00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.