Konza Environmental Education Program

Schoolyard Long-term Ecological Research

Teacher Profiles 2007

Teacher

Classroom Unit

Prairie Site

Biomass

Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks: Buffalo Ranch Wildlife Area

John Brooks has been an educator for 31 years. He started his career in Agriculture Education immediately after graduating from Kansas State University. Caney, Kansas, USD 436 has been the platform for his teaching assignments in Agriculture Education, Technology and Computer Science, and Student Support Center and Science. His current assignment at Caney Valley Junior/Senior High School is junior high Science, Environmental Science and Horticulture. In addition he sponsors Junior & Senior High Fishing Clubs. These activities offer students an opportunity to develop a respect and love for outdoor activities. The junior high club holds informative monthly meetings with presentations about conservation of natural resources, fishing techniques and camping gear selection. High school students are eligible to fish in competitive events. John Brooks’ passion is fishing.

Plant Collection

The Nature Conservancy: Jones Trust

Tonia Carlson has been teaching for nine years, six of those in Alma. Her teaching assignment at Wabaunsee High School includes Biology, Advanced Biology, Environmental Science, Human Anatomy and Physiology and Speech/Forensics.  She achieved National Board Certification in 2006, and is now working on her Masters in Biology Education from Emporia State University. As a mother of two, Tonia’s life is full of opportunities to use her knowledge of nature. One of her family’s favorite activities is to take walks and try to identify the plant and animal life along the county roads near her home, usually instigated by her kids’ questions. Tonia is a voracious reader, likes to camp, fish, swim, spend time with her husband, Roger (usually watching WWE), and play with her kids.

Biomass

Private Property in Morris County: White Memorial Camp

Daryl Finch has been a teacher at Council Grove High School for the past nineteen years in General Biology and Anatomy and Physiology. His Biology classes consist of ninth graders for the most part, with about 13-18 students per class. Due to the decreasing enrollment of CGHS, the total enrollment will only be about 55-60 students, who will be participating in the Konza Prairie science activity. As a forty-seven-year-old father of five children, Daryl’s many interests mostly involve the activities of his children. Spending time watching his children participate in extra-curricular activities during the school and summer months keep him busy. The KEEP program has renewed his interest in developing a better science curriculum with greater interactive learning activities during the up-and-coming school years.

Plant Diversity

Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks: Prairie Center

Michael Hotz has been a Science teacher for 23 years at the middle and high school levels.  The last 11 years have been at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, teaching in the areas of Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry, and Physics.  He has developed an Outdoor Classroom and Research site in one of the courtyards at Wyandotte High School where there is a native plant section and 20 raised beds suitable for research projects.  He has taken a team to the Eco-meet for competition and helps organize and participate in the school’s camping program.  He will incorporate knowledge gained from the Prairies Across Kansas Teachers Workshop into Biology 1, Botany, and Zoology courses that he teaches, as well as doing research on a prairie site to be determined near Kansas City and on the Konza Prairie.  He will also help in the development of curriculum for the Schlagel Library prairie site.

Plant Collection

USD 320: Wamego Nature Center

Diane Landon taught her first year, 2006-2007, at Wamego High School. She taught Biology; however, in the fall of 2007, she will begin teaching Field Biology, and this is her reason for attending the Konza Prairie Teachers’ Workshop. The workshop helped her tremendously as she plans for next year, with various projects and concepts she learned at the workshop. Diane will use the Wamego Nature Center on the west side of the Sports Complex to gather data and research the natural prairie there. Diane enjoys gardening and caring for her one-acre homestead, including her Great Pyrenees, three cats, and two growing teenage boys. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado, and recently moved from Burlington, Colorado, where she went from hot and dry weather to humidity. A big change, but she loves it!

Biomass

Marylee Ramsay was born and raised in Southwest Kansas on the same farm where her dad grew up.   She attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Ks, where she majored in Biology.  At Emporia State University, she worked as a TA and zookeeper and later received a MS in Biology.  Marylee gained an appreciation for nature on the farm and from yearly vacationing in Wahatoya Canyon of the Spanish Peaks in Colorado.  She began traveling to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness during high school and has led the Kansas West UMC BWCAW Canoe Camp for high school kids since 1996.  Marylee currently teaches Ecology and Honors Biology at Goddard High School, is in charge of the O.W.L.S. area, coaches Eco-Meet, Science Olympiad, and Cross Country, and loves being outdoors.

Grasshopper

Victor Wilkinson is a Title I teacher at Avenue A Elementary in Hutchinson, Kansas. Victor has been teaching at Avenue A for nine years. He enjoys working with the K – 6 students at the school. He also enjoys outdoor activities like fishing, golf, fishing, hiking, fishing, herping, and his favorite activity, fishing. Many students bring specimens to Victor, and they identify them using the Internet or other resources. He has an eleven-year-old son, a seven-year-old daughter, and a thirty-something wife. He lives on a lake and spends his free time on the water. He’s excited about offering his students more opportunities for science.