Sharon Spencer

Education continues as a ribbon of adventure guiding my life. I have served as a firefighter EMT, a physical education teacher, a national triathlon coach, an at-risk educational advocate, and as an educational developer in youth and family ministry. Through each experience, I have always been intentional as a perpetual student while empathy has served as my mentor and teacher. After studying aerospace engineering as a young adult, and then returning later in life to finish a degree in Integrated Social Sciences at the University of Washington, I found myself curious about how we as individuals and as communities integrate with the world around us, much like the parts of complicated technology each serving a role in a machines function. My greatest adventure, however, has been being mom to three amazing now young adults, Lauren, Zach, and Jordan. Living in both Michigan and Washington during their childhood years, we traversed the country to visit family exploring Americas zoos along the way. My Masters in Teaching through Project Dragonfly at Miami University has brought me full circle from those exploratory family zoo visits with my dynamic trio to an understanding and inquiry of strategies we can use as human beings to coexist with the natural world. I look forward to my next steps in pursuit of further understanding of empathy education and compassionate conservation at the doctoral level as I pursue a Doctorate of Education at Antioch University. I currently live and explore from Oxford, Michigan with my rescue ensemble of two cats, Athena and Marlow, and our beloved family dog, Bella.