I never wanted to be a teacher. As a college student, I watched my classmates effortlessly identify their future careers in finance, tech, and medicine while I struggled to imagine a professional future. I wanted to do something creative, non-monotonous, and fulfilling. That meant that teaching was out of the question. During a summer internship in Lima, Peru at a nonprofit that supported the rights of domestic workers, I was asked by the director to take over the organization’s English classes for the summer. On my first day, I asked the women in the class why they had enrolled in an English class. One woman told me she desperately wanted to help her teenage daughter with her homework. Another said she loved the movie Titanic, but only had access to it in English and wanted to understand why she loved the film so much. A third said she wanted to help girls in her village access more opportunities than she had. That’s when it hit me—I realized that education had the simple and profound power to give people access to their deepest dreams, to allow them to engage with the world in more meaningful ways, and to help build a future where dignity and opportunity are available to all. As it turned out, teaching was the most creative, least repetitive, and most fulfilling thing I could ever do.
After fully embracing teaching, Rene earned her M.Ed. through the Boston Teacher Residency. She taught English and ESL in Boston Public Schools for 10 years. There, she developed outdoor education and restorative justice programs for immigrant high school students. Throughout her teaching career, she has focused on developing interdisciplinary, student-led projects that encourage young people to explore their local communities and form connections to nature. Before joining IHE, Rene also co-founded Girls Rock Chicago, a music education organization, and served as the executive director of Nature Links for Lifelong Learning, providing nature-based continuing education for adults with disabilities across the state of Maine.
Rene lives with her wife and three children in Brooklin, Maine, where she enjoys sailing, building furniture, and playing the banjo.
