Colorado Creativity & Making

Elizabeth Castor has been teaching art since 2002 and has had the pleasure of teaching at all levels (K-12). There is always time to learn new skills and methods. It is important to model for the students that learning can be fun, a little daunting but worth the effort!

Fred Gluck teaches computer science for the University of Colorado’s science outreach program and volunteers in support of math and computer science teachers at the elementary and middle school levels. He also helps conduct online math circles for the Julia Robinson Math Festival. He is a retired engineer with degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering/computer science.

Stephanie Ashworth Kawamura currently teaches multi-subjects in a self-contained, gifted and talented classroom for the Douglas County School District’s Discovery Program. Stephanie holds a B.S. in Human Development and Family studies from Colorado State University and a M.A. in Special Education: Gifted and Talented from the University of Northern Colorado. Student-Created Carnival - Each year about 80 students work together to create a carnival for the entire school population with the goal of raising money for a cause. We will bring several student developed games for participants to play, and will discuss our process and successes.

Chad Lemons has 14 years experience as a music educator at both the secondary and elementary level. His dedication to music literacy has created a strong connection to using technology in meaningful and innovative ways to support student growth in literacy and composition. Through the joy of using technology in creative and innovative ways, Chad has made the move to teaching STEM beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. Mr. Lemons has been a strong advocate for inclusion in the music classroom, and inspired the development of inclusive music ensembles across the St. Vrain Valley Schools.

As a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Instructional Coach, I currently work in schools of diverse populations. I also am a P-TEACH site professor and instructor for our Pathways to Teaching program. This program is designed for high school students and paraprofessionals in our district who are interested in pursuing careers in education. Additionally, I provide leadership support and facilitate our district's induction program. As an Apple Teacher, I am particularly focused on supporting our district's Learning Technology Plan, which ensures that students and teachers can access the necessary Apple tools to create and explore concepts and content in authentic contexts.

Brandon Petersen is an admitted geek, pop culture junkie, and fan of things learning. He currently teaches 5th Grade at Woodland Elementary in the Cherry Creek School District and is looking forward to starting up their STEM program there next year. He currently serves as Board President for InnEdCO, Innovation Education Colorado, which is a local non profit that exists to inspire and sustain communities of innovative learners. In his free time, he is a huge Disney and Theme Park enthusiast with a goal to visit every Disney Park in the world while riding as many roller coasters as he can.

Nadia Repenning is the CEO and a founder of AgentSheets, Inc., a company focused on developing and implementing software environments for agent-based games and simulations in STEM education. She has created and taught professional SGD development classes for teachers globally. Nadia Repenning is the CEO and a founder of AgentSheets, Inc., a company focused on developing and implementing software environments for agent-based games and simulations in STEM education. She has created and taught professional SGD development classes for teachers globally.

Mark is Technology Coordinator and Mechatronics Teacher at Rangeview High School in Aurora, CO. Previously, he taught Scalable Game Design for twelve years at middle school, and was part of the senior training team at the SGD Institutes, conferences, and the lead trainer for staff in the Aurora Public Schools. The Scalable Game Design initiative made a huge difference in the way that he teaches computer science and the skills related to teaching students computational thinking. This method for getting students to process Computational Thinking is unique and innovative, making a significant and engaging impact via this program for the students.

Corrina Perrone Smith creates tutorials/curricula for teacher PD and student instruction. She is involved in design, usability testing, and managing the AgentCubes product. Her background is in AI and CS research. She was one of the first to connect educational software to the internet with WebQuest, for which she won a Gold Medal from the Mayor of Paris, France at WWW5 for “Best Paper/Best Application of the WWW to Education.” Her research includes pioneering meta-programming applications for Analogous Programming; Optimizing Large Databases; Artificial Intelligence for Command, Control, Simulation, and Diagnostics for spacecraft; and automatic LAN diagnostics and configuration repair.

Sean Wybrant currently crafts tomorrow’s heroes in his classroom by teaching students to critically think and solve problems through computer science and video game development. At a young age, Sean was convinced that superheroes were real, and that belief has been bolstered seeing the challenges that students are willing to tackle and solve. Students in his programs create augmented and virtual reality simulations, explore live-action motion capture, and are immersed in a variety of other technologies. Sean believes that teachers have the most awesome responsibility in our society, that of crafting the heroes of the future.

ASL Carpool Karaoke! ASL 1 students learn how to change a song from English word order into American Sign Language and sign the meaning of the lyrics. As a class, we edit the project in WeVideo to create a fun, inclusive video with everyone participating and presenting all in one 3-4 minute video.