Meet the Participants

Student Selection Process

The Omaha Science Media Project students were rising ninth graders in the Omaha Public School System. Nominated by building principals, these students were invited to apply and were interviewed by the OPS Science Curriculum and Learning team. Science was not necessarily these students favorite topic. Rather they were students that had demonstrated a high level of ability in other courses and were interested in exploring new ways to learn science. The students came from seven different middle schools and worked on teams as peers with teachers from across the district.

Omaha Public School Students

	Mitch	Paris	Jessie
	Max	Jonathan	Alex
	Diana	Natalia	Ashia
	Raven	Ali	Taylor
	Danielle	Garrett	Reggie

Teacher Selection Process

At a district-wide curriculum day in September 2008, science and journalism teachers from across the Omaha Public Schools district were invited to apply for the Omaha Science Media Project. In addition to personal statements and the support of their principals, this application required 2 recommendations from teachers’ current or former students. The OPS Curriculum and Learning Science leadership team then picked the participants, creating a teacher cohort that represented a broad range of schools, areas of expertise, and teaching experience. A common trait was the enthusiasm for exploring innovative approaches to building deeper connections between students and science.

Omaha Public School Teachers

	Andrea Cooney	Julie Cusack	Melissa Hartman
	Sue Durfee	Theresa Laux	Jeff Erixon
	Janet Raddish	Marlene LaRue	Teresa Bender
	Todd LeMense	Frank Tworek	Lee Ann Stover
	Kris Mazur	Maria Jimeno-Buckner	LaDeirdre Jackson
	LeeAnn Vaughan

Senior Scientists

Virology and public health researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the Nebraska Center for Virology (NCV) opened their labs and shared their experiences with the OSMP teams. The researchers sat for interviews, gave tours of their labs, and worked with the project teams to connect their work with the experiences of young people in the community. In addition to the support of the principal investigators, science advisors joined each team helping them navigate both the science they were studying and the institutions that could help support these media projects.

	Dr. Georgette Kanmogne	Dr. Sue Swindells	Dr. Steven Tracy
	Dr. Pete Iwen	Dr. Tony Sambol	Dr. Sharon Medcalf
	Dr. Keith Hansen	Dr. Charles Wood	Dr. Peter Angeletti
	Dr. Diana Florescu

Science Content Advisors

	Catherine Haorei	Sara Brostrom	Leah Carpenter
	John Lowe	Matt Smith	Deb Brown
	Belita Kalala	Willie Hughes	Anna Walburn

Media Advisors

Professional journalists and journalism educators from NET, Soundprint Media, and the University of Nebraska's College of Journalism and Mass Communications mentored the teachers and students in the Omaha Science Media Project. They provided coaching on the process of moving from topics to stories. They also helped with technical guidance in using cameras, recording devices, and software editing tools.

	Michael Farrell	Gary Hochman	Chet Kincaid
	Sora Newman	Moira Rankin	Perry Stoner
	Amy Struthers	Adam Wagler	Jared Weissbrot
	Bruce Mitchell

Special Thanks To

	Dan Gilbert	Caroline Crouch	Christina Elf
	Judy Diamond	Gary Targoff	Amy Spiegel
	David Feingold	Janelle Mullen	Phil Smith
	Phil Hammar	Rachel Wise	Kristin Watkins
	Ray Meints	Chris Schaben	Scott Barry
	David Uttal	Katie Weitz-White	Soo Hui Lee
	Benjamin Jee	Christine Lesiak	Becky Aiken
	Dee Washington