Hello! My name is Noel and I grew up in Milwaukee, WI. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I decided to travel through Central and South America to broaden my horizons before embarking on a career. I was so awed by the beauty that I encountered on my travels that I decided to continue broadening my horizons for a couple more decades. Before I knew it I’d traveled to over 80 countries on six continents!
I’ve worked countless unique and interesting jobs to pay for my plane tickets around the world but it wasn’t until I teamed up with Earth Discovery Institute, a non profit organization committed to teaching children about conservation, that I considered a career working with elementary school students. Beyond a simple curiosity for the unknown, one of the passions that fueled my travels was an enduring love for long distance hiking. I’ve hiked to lost cities in the jungles of Colombia, scaled active volcanoes in Rwanda, visited nomadic reindeer herders in Mongolia and stood on top of the world in Nepal. In 2010 I moved to San Diego and immediately fell in love with the diverse ecology of Southern California. That excitement only increased when I was able to share it with enthusiasticchildren. Eventually, I decided to expand my goals as a teacher by enrolling in the High Tech High Graduate School of Education in the summer of 2021. I am currently working toward earning my graduate degree in Teaching and Learning. I hope to bring my passion for the world around me into the classroom so that I can transform the lives of my students.