My name is Janice Dean, and I live in Marathon, New York, which is about 30 miles east of Ithaca. My husband and I have three children, 26, 24 and 18 years of age. I have been very involved and busy with our children and their sports. Our oldest daughter played D1 field hockey at the University of Maryland, and has three NCAA Championships. Our youngest daughter plays D1 field hockey at the University of Michigan, and just finished her freshman year. Our son is the oldest and played baseball at BCC, and then went into coaching. We have kept very busy traveling to watch our children as they played in college. This year has been an adjustment, as we have moved to the empty nest phase of our lives. I am very excited for this summer program, to further my education, as I adjust to having more time for myself.
I attended the University of Albany and graduated with a BS in Medical Technology. I found this job to be monotonous over time, and decided to attend SUNY Cortland to get my Masters is Education. I have not been bored since! I am finishing my 23rd year as a teacher, and have taught Chemistry, Non-regents Biology, Basics Science, Physical Science, 7th and 8th Grade Computers, and Earth Science at three different schools; Owego Free Academy, Marathon, and Whitney Point. Chemistry is my favorite subject, but I now solely teach Earth Science because of the lay-offs, I am the only certified teacher in ES at Whitney Point High School. It has been an adjustment teaching Earth Science and freshman, but I am liking it more every year.
In addition to teaching, I have coached varsity field hockey, JV basketball, JV softball and modified softball. I was a Drama Club advisor and a class advisor. I have tried to keep up with technology, and this year I have been able to incorporate Ipads into my classroom. My hobbies include scrapbooking, videotaping and editing movies, and also photography. Most of the videos and photos I produce are of field hockey.
I look forward to this Renewable Energy and Cleaner Fuels Grass Roots summer program. As an Earth Science teacher, I feel learning more about energy conservation will accent the course and bring some exceptional personal into the classroom. I think the students will benefit from this outside connection with Cornell and, hopefully, it will influence some of my students to want to pursue this path later in life. In addition, Whitney Point has solar panels and I would like to incorporate the energy we save using solar panels into my classroom along with this summers research.