Educator Certification

As a young girl, Kristi Barnes always wanted to be a teacher. What she did not know was that she would grow up to eventually teach at the same middle school she attended as a child—Seneca Middle School in Seneca, South Carolina. Kristi is passionate about learning and teaching about cultures from around the world. She is the founder of and a mentor for a multicultural support group for bilingual students called the “Bilingual Squad.” She is dedicated to inspiring her students to travel and be globally competent lifelong learners. One way Kristi shares this passion with her students is by informing and including them in her application processes for international professional development opportunities. She hopes this will inspire them to achieve their dreams as well.

As a 2013 Teacher for Global Classrooms fellow, she was able to travel to Brazil to learn about the educational system, culture, and teach professional development workshops to English teachers. As a 2018 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions, Kristi was able to travel to the Arctic countries of Norway, Greenland, and Iceland. While on expedition, she became inspired to learn more about wildlife preservation and conservation.

Peter Cameron has 24 years of elementary school level teaching experience and is a proven leader in the integration of technology in the classroom. Peter is passionate about sharing best practices, ideas, resources, lessons and student exemplars with teachers and administrators throughout the world. He believes in the power of connections and the profound ability that we all have to make a difference.

His work in the classroom has been featured by Google Earth Education, National Geographic, CBC News, As It Happens, and Owl Magazine. Peter has presented workshops from the local to international level. In 2017 and 2018, Peter served as an ambassador for National Geographic Educator Certification, supporting the program’s development and ability to scale as well as mentoring educators through it. He is also a Google Earth Education Expert, Apple Distinguished Educator, SMART Exemplary Educator, and Google Educator. Peter is the co-founder of #MADPD, a virtual education conference, and co-author of the educational resource Blue Gold.

For two decades as a public high school teacher, Kavita Gupta has worked tirelessly to bring access and relevance to science education nationwide alongside policy makers and educators. As a strand leader for the National Science Teachers Association’s national conferences, an advocate for science education funding at the Silicon Valley March for Science, one of the five National Geographic Education Fellows nationwide, and an author of publications such as Reaction Prediction: Made Easy, Kavita has impacted students, fellow educators, and the community at large toward science education.

Kavita teaches chemistry in a suburban public high school in the heart of Silicon Valley. She strives to teach the human before the student by assigning as much value to how students feel about the learning as to the learning itself. As a member of inaugural class of National Geographic Education fellows, Kavita has challenged students to learn holistically, contextually, and analytically so that they become curious learners and problem-solvers of tomorrow. Kavita has been recognized for her exceptional teaching by the City of Cupertino and by the higher education institutions such as Stanford, MIT, and the University of California. Kavita has also been featured in the Mercury News, the marquee Silicon Valley newspaper.

Susan Dorsey graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art and is a Master’s student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in the Global Field Program. She works as a museum educator at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland where she develops and facilitates classroom presentations, museum tours, and art workshops for students across the state. In 2017, Susan received the Maryland Art Museum Educator of the Year Award. She was also selected as an Artist-in-Residence with the National Park Service and received an education grant from NASA to develop a STEAM program for middle school students.

Susan is passionate about connecting students to cultures and objects from around the world through inquiry, critical thinking, hands-on, and interdisciplinary learning. She strives to nurture and inspire creativity. After becoming a National Geographic Certified Educator, Susan had the opportunity to test out and advise on a fledgling National Geographic Education program that paired National Geographic Explorers with educators to collaborate throughout the school year. Susan was paired with Paleontologist Harimalala Tsiory Andrianavalona, PhD, to develop innovative educational experiences for students. Learn more about this collaboration on Susan’s blog, Exploring through Education.