Gloria Nicodemi

Gloria developed her love of nature and Earth's many wonders growing up surrounded by the Pre-Cambrian rocks of the lower Mid-Hudson Valley. Her passion for teaching revealed itself early when she would spend her weekends as a child volunteering at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center giving tours and helping to nurse injured animals back to health for release. She continued her exploration of teaching and the natural world working at Hillside Outdoor Education Center. At Hillside, Gloria would facilitate groups in a wide variety of activities from canoeing, to rock climbing, to orienteering.

Gloria received her BS in Education from Wagner College where she concentrated in Natural Science. She then sought to pursue a teaching career at the Science Museum of Long Island where she worked with school groups of all ages exploring a vast range of topics from mammals to the glaciations of Long Island. In 2004 she decided to enter the New York City public school system where she has been since. She is the head of the Science Department, and teaches Earth Science and Biology in a Queens, NY high school. This past year she worked closely with the American Museum of Natural History on an inquiry-based Biology program.