Linda Smith

	News
	Jan-25-2004 Jan-03-2004

Linda Smith is currently the Elementary Science Resource Specialist for the Paulsboro School District in Gloucester County. Her job is to teach teachers how to do Hands-on Science in their classrooms. Currently she visits 42 Classes/892 students biweekly to demonstrate hands-on science lessons. She does in-service workshops for both her district teachers and for state and national teacher organizations. In addition to her classroom duties, Linda coordinates her school's annual Science Fair and has partnered with Mobil Exxon and Valero to have Scientists come after school weekly to help students with their projects. She also runs the school's annual Space Camp.

Linda received her B/A in Elementary Education from Glassboro State College in 1978, and a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Applied Sciences from Rowan University in 2008. In 1995 she received a scholarship to train with NASA astronauts at the Goddard Space Center in Maryland for two weeks in their NEWMAST Program. She spent a summer as an intern for PSE&G in their Estuary Enhancement Program where she helped with a mitigation project to restore 50,000 acres of wetlands. During that time she also put together the Wetlands Discovery Kits and created a network where every teacher in Salem, Cumberland and Cape May Counties can borrow the kits free of charge through their County Video Libraries. This year, Linda ran the Maitland P. Simmons Space Science Institute at Rowan University, a 5 day workshop that helped elementary teachers explore the wonders of space and share those wonders with their students.

Smith is a State facilitator for the national environmental programs Project WET, Project Wild, Aquatic Wild, Learning Tree, Bridges to the Natural World, and WOW; a member of the state environmental education advisory board, NJNREC; Gloucester County's Keyleader in the National Building a Presence for Science program, Vice President, Southern Region of New Jersey Science Teachers Association, NJSTA Liaison for New Jersey Education Association, Board of Directors, Association of Presidential Awardees Science Teachers, President, Council of Elementary Science-New Jersey, She was also on the panel to revise New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Science Standards.

In 1999 Linda Smith was awarded the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Math & Science. In 2000 she was named Teacher of the Year for the Paulsboro School Distric, and again in 2004. In 2000 she was also named Gloucester County Teacher of the Year. She was one of five finalists for New Jersey Teacher of the Year in 2000. She has been awarded NJ-BISEC's (New Jersey Business, Industry, Science Education Consortium) Distinguished Service Award, Outstanding Facilitator Award for Projects Learning Tree, WET and Wild, and the Audrey Brainard Make a Difference Award from the Council of Elementary Science-New Jersey.