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Christine is a 2008 Golden Apple Fellow who has been teaching high school English classes in Albuquerque Public Schools for 27 years. She currently also teaches a Teacher Academy class, sponsors the Educators Rising program, and serves as English Department Chair at Del Norte High School.  She has been a National Board Certified teacher for 20 years, and last year achieved another 10-year renewal of that license and she is a firm believer in the power of schools and teachers to change the world through equity and diversity. 

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

Meredith Kopald was my senior year AP English LIterature teacher. She used great texts to push students to probe their own philosophies, to formulate their own model for how the world worked, and in doing so, she taught me more about myself than anything else. 

Dennis joined the Board in 2017.  He is a seasoned employee benefits specialist with more than 25 years of industry experience working with a diverse range of workplace benefits plans and clients. He is a Principal at REDW LLC and leads the firm’s subsidiary, Alliance Benefit Group Southwest, a company that is dedicated to providing third-party administration and recordkeeping services for retirement plans. Dennis is a graduate of New Mexico State University. Dennis was born and raised in New Mexico and has never been able to settle on either red or green.

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

As both a professional and a parent, Dennis draws on inspiration and life lessons learned from his father, a career STEM educator.

Paula Jackson taught for 34 years prior to retiring in 2019. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1985 with a BS in Education, with an emphasis in Elementary Education, English, and Physical Education.  She continued her education at The University of New Mexico earning her licensure in Special Education and Gifted Education.  Paula was awarded the Golden Apple Award in 2016 and joined the Golden Apple Board of Directors in 2019.

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

My Advanced Social Sciences teacher in 12th grade, Mary Flo Ridley. She helped us explore the challenges and journeys of people and cultures in many corners of the earth; including exploring our own privileged, middle-class existence and how our choices matter, about how we matter. She was the first teacher to open my eyes to perception and how it shapes and molds our experiences with the world.

John joined the Board in 2020.  He has a long and distinguished career with the United States Air Force, where he served on Active Duty for 30 years. He culminated his career as the Command Chief Master Sergeant and senior enlisted advisor for Kirtland Air Force Base and currently serves as the Director of Human Resources and Manpower for the Space Rapid Capabilities, a rapid acquisition unit with the United States Space Force.  John has an extensive and compassionate background in caring for personnel, focused on recognizing talent, recruitment, and workforce sustainment for a diverse 150 employee organization. John holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Regis University.

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

Ms. Gullterio, my third-grade teacher at Sheridan Elementary school in Pittsburgh, had a profound effect on my self-esteem.  As a child, I slid into a wall and broke my front teeth into an inverted V. I was a shy, quiet young boy, and was embarrassed by my smile, and my inability to pronounce words without the center teeth.  She was so kind and compassionate and taught me how to annunciate words. I still recall her words during public speaking engagements and how she made me feel confident and competent.

Chris Speck is a 2018 Golden Apple Fellow who has been a teacher in Albuquerque for 19 years. After 10 years in elementary schools, he switched to middle school-first math, now science, and has loved every minute of it. He was fortunate and grateful to participate in the Research Experiences for Teachers Program (RET) for two years at the Advanced Materials Lab at Sandia National Labs under Dr. Tim Boyle. He also worked as a visiting teacher in July of 2018 at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology’s Gates Coral Lab. Principal classroom projects have included high altitude ballooning, Sphero robotics, coral reef ecosystem, dual aquaponics ecosystems, organism metabolism labs, underwater robotics, computer science (app development), and biotechnology.

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

Megan Wethington and I taught together at Ernie Pyle Middle School. I was having one of the most challenging years of my career and she helped me change the way I was teaching math to engage more students and boost their understanding. She helped me to understand that if students were disengaged nothing else matters.

Tell us about a teacher who inspired you:

So much of my work in Teacher Education is based on my experiences as a student of Dr. Jean Casey. In the spirit of Golden Apple, all children in New Mexico deserve excellent teachers. Dr. Casey exemplified how all educators deserve excellent teachers, too. While working on my masters degree at UNM, Dr. Casey exemplified the realities of teaching – the good and the challenging. She held high expectations for her students so that we would have high expectations of our own students. But my most profound memory of her is someone who approached her life’s work with joy. That ethos inspires me everyday as a teacher.