Meet the inaugural CSTA Equity Fellows
- Shanti’ Coaston, CS Teacher at Shaw High School
- Jacqueline Corricelli, CS Teacher at Conard High School
- Charity Freeman, CS Teacher at Kenwood Academy High School
- Abigail Joseph, Middle School Director of Learning, Innovation, & Design at The Harker School
- Todd Lash, Research Associate at the University of Illinois
- Michelle G. Lee, CS Specialist at San Francisco Unified School District
- Rebecca Luebker, Social Science Chair at Haas Hall Academy
- Noelle Valentine, CTE Teacher at Susitna Valley Jr/Sr High School
- Shana V. White, CS Teacher at Sweetwater Middle School
- Cindy Wong, Technology Teacher at PS41Q
Shanti Coaston
Shanti Coaston is in her eighth year of teaching. Her special education experiences have assisted in the transition of teaching CS to all students (APCSP, Intro to Game Design, Intro to Cybersecurity, Exploring CS, and Student TechCorps) full-time. Shanti has received CS training through CSforCLE and TEALS. Her activities and recognition include: 2018-19 Shaw High School and East Cleveland City Schools Teacher of the Year, 2019 APCSP Teacher Summit participant, Girls Who Code Facilitator, ESports Advisor, CSTA Ohio Member, 2018 CSforALL Conference attendee, Technology Integration PD provider, and the 2017 Ohio CS Curriculum Standards Writing Team, as well as a Co-Lead Mentor for new educators to the school district. She ensures that her students are exposed to college tours, career fairs, and CS competitions. Shanti believes that EVERY student, especially girls and students with disabilities, deserve to learn Computer Science.
Jacqueline Corricelli
Jacqueline Corricelli has been a public school educator since Fall 2003. She teaches AP CS A, AP CS Principles, and Cryptography & Cybersecurity at Conard High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. This is a second career for Jackie who, after earning her degree in Mathematics and Statistics, worked three years as a Radar Systems Engineer. Jackie believes that students at all levels can, and should learn computer science. Jackie’s passion for CS education goes beyond the classroom. She is a member of the Connecticut Department of Education CS Advisory Group created to improve access to and define CS education. She works as a Table Leader and Consultant for CS Principles. She is Vice President of CSTA Connecticut. Jackie has a B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. in Mathematics Secondary Education from Westfield State University. She and her family reside in East Granby, Connecticut.
Charity Freeman
Charity Freeman is proud to be a computer science teacher and Girls Who Code Club facilitator at Kenwood Academy High School on Chicago’s South Side. Originally from Concord, New Hampshire, Charity earned a B.S. in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship and began her work in education as a high school career advisor, where she realized her desire to teach full-time. Charity will earn her M.A. in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago in May 2020. She is a contributing member of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, and the American Educational Research Association. She has also been selected as a 2019-2020 Teach Plus Illinois K-12 Teaching Policy Fellow. Charity is passionately committed to democratizing Computer Science by supporting equitable student access, engagement, and achievement, both within and beyond the classroom.
Abigail Joseph
Abigail Joseph has an extensive career as an educator in the California Bay Area. Her commitment to education includes work developing and supporting programs in schools and organizations like MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement), Girls Incorporated, Black Girls Code, and the Krause Center for Innovation. She has spent the past eight years developing computer science programs and recently developed curriculum for a mobile app programming book for kids. Abigail currently works as the Director of Learning, Innovation, and Design in the Middle School at The Harker School in San Jose and is an MIT Master Trainer for App Inventor. Beyond teaching, making, and the arts, her current passion is edstoria.com and uncovering ways to help teachers not vanish from the educational landscape. She tweets at @drabigailjoseph. She holds a B.S.E in computer science from Princeton University and an M.S./Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Todd Lash
Todd Lash is currently a doctoral student in Special Education (UIUC) and a research associate at the Creative Technology Research Lab (University of Florida). Todd’s research interests include increasing the equity in and access to high-quality computer science education for all students. He studies the integration of computer science into K-5 curricula, instructional strategies that address the challenges faced by struggling learners in CSed and how Universal Design For Learning (UDL) may be used as a way to engage all learners. Previously, Todd worked at CSforALL as a research associate and served as a K-5 educator for 17 years.
Michelle G. Lee
In ten minutes, Michelle G. Lee can make a room of adults feel giddy like kindergarteners, or so she’s told. As a Computer Science Content Specialist for San Francisco Unified, her mission is to severely disrupt patterns of who believes they can be successful at computer science. To achieve this, she lead-authored the district’s Kindergarten computer science curriculum and is co-authoring its upcoming pre-Kindergarten curriculum. Michelle also coaches, co-teaches with, and facilitates hands-on professional development for PK-5 classroom teachers and specialists and, to date, has introduced over 1,100 children to computer science. In 2019, CSTA and Infosys Foundation USA honored Michelle’s commitment to equity at their national conferences.
Rebecca Luebker Moll
Rebecca Luebker Moll is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation is the Social Science Chair at Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Most of Rebecca’s academic duties are in the areas of Government and Economics, where she has been awarded the 2017 Gilder Lehrman Arkansas History Teacher of the Year. Computer Science has recently become a passion for her through her daughter. Her 10-year-old daughter has been interested in all things computer since she was 6, and to understand her interests she wanted to learn more about it. In 2017, in collaboration with the Computer Science Chair at her school, they developed a middle school Coding curriculum. Through this experience, she has been able to enjoy the struggles and successes that computer science brings to the classroom, and the ability to connect computer science and social science in cross-curricular endeavors.
Noelle Valentine
Noelle Valentine is an English academic turned computer science teacher with experience working with rural Alaskan students. She is currently acting as the inaugural president of the CSTA Top of the World chapter. Noelle has served on Alaska’s CS Standards Writing Committee and championed the development of the CS.MatSu pathway in the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District. Driven to increase student access and opportunity, she created an expanded and revitalized Computer Science program for grades 6-12 at her alma mater, Susitna Valley Junior/Senior High School. In addition to building her own Girls Who Code Club, she was a co-founder of MSBSD’s district-wide Girls Who Code Summer Camp. When she isn’t on her computer, Noelle is the assistant high school volleyball coach, a role she’s enjoyed for the past nine seasons. She stays surprisingly busy in small-town Alaska with her husband and giant dog.
Shana V. White
Shana V. White is in her fifteenth year of education, teaching currently at a middle school in metro Atlanta. She has a B.S. in health and exercise science from Wake Forest University, a master’s degree in physical education from Winthrop University, and an Ed.S. in Instructional Technology from Kennesaw State University. She is a Georgia certified K-12 Health/Physical Education Teacher as well as a certified K-12 Computer Science Teacher. She believes in purposeful disruption of the status quo in schools and is passionate about equity, race, culturally relevant pedagogy, inclusion, STEM and computer science instruction at the K-12 level. She has received a number of accolades including 2019 Georgia Tech Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship, 2017 Outstanding Ed.S Scholar in the Bagwell College of Education at Kennesaw State University for Instructional Technology, ASCD 2017 Emerging Leader, and 2016 PBS Lead Digital Innovator for Georgia.
Cindy Wong
Cindy Wong is an elementary technology teacher at P.S.41 The Crocheron School in Bayside, New York. She has taught over twelve years, with the first nine years in third grade. She is a tech enthusiast and loves testing out new tools with her students in her computer lab. She holds Ed Tech certifications in Google Education Level 1 and 2, and is a Google Certified Trainer and Innovator. She is also part of the #NYCSchoolsTech Trainer Team and presented at the past four #NYCSchoolsTech Tech Summit, ISTE 2019, and CS4All TeachersCon. She was also a Community Builder Fellow for CS4All, one of the Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence Initiatives, to spread the culture of computer science to teachers, parents, and students.