Ryan works on special projects around EFS and Farm to School professional development primarily during our summer programming, after spending four years working in many capacities at Shelburne Farms facilitating professional development for educators around Education for Sustainability (EFS) through Shelburne Farms’ Sustainable Schools Project and managing Farm to School projects through Vermont FEED and the Vermont Farm to School Network. He returned to the classroom full time in August of 2018, where he taught science and mathematics at various grades from 5th through 12th. He now works full time in professional learning for Illustrative Mathematics.
Ryan’s connection to education, food, farming, and sustainability runs deep. Ryan received his B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Warren Wilson College, and afterwards was awarded a teaching fellowship at Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center in Estes Park, CO, where he explored innovative place-based and project-based teaching models. He continued teaching within an innovative, public school-within-a-school where students design their own individualized learning at Big Picture South Burlington. Throughout his educational journey, Ryan interspersed myriad agricultural and outdoor adventures, including farming in Tuscany, mountaineering in Chile, working as a backcountry caretaker with the Green Mountain Club, and leading a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps high school crew. Ryan holds a Vermont Educator License and earned his M.Ed. in K-8 Mathematics Education from SNHU and an M.S. in Natural Resources from the the Field Naturalist Graduate Program at UVM, where he helped to develop a place-based education initiative in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico that was modeled after the UVM-Shelburne Farms PLACE Program.