ODU BLAST 2017 Teacher Chaperons

Mrs. Ardenia Lewis is a Career and Technology Education Teacher at Gar-Field High School, Woodbridge, VA. Mrs. Lewis has been teaching in the Technology Education Field for the past ten years at Gar-Field High School in Prince William County.  She was certified as a VASTS scholars in 2013 and has been with the BLAST’s camp since its induction in 2013 at UVA, Project Lead the Way Introduction to Engineering Design 2015 and George Mason University Gaming 2016. Mrs. Lewis also serves as the Northern Regional President for VTEEA, coaches VEX and FTC robotics teams that have won numerous awards and made it to the World’s championship in each.  Mrs. Lewis has been married for 26 years and has one son, who will be attending Norfolk State University this Fall and  a nine year old Shitzu-poodle dog named Colby.

Octavia Williams is a Technology Education teacher at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville, Virginia. She is also a Master Teacher for Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS). Mrs. Williams is one of the pioneer teachers with BLASTS.

Marta Cintron is a teacher at Woodside High School in Newport News, VA.

Dr. Tomeka Wilcher is Assistant Professor at School of Education and Human Development at Hampton University, Hampton, VA. Dr. Tomeka Wilcher worked at Heritage High School located in Newport News, VA for 12 years. Within those 12 years, she served within the following capacities: English teacher (10 Ave/10 Hon/Pre-IB; 11 Ave/11 Hon; 12 Hon/12 AP); mentor to at-risk young women and men; new teacher mentor/coach; and content team lead teacher. In 2015, she took on an Assistant Professorship within Hampton University’s Department of Education. Her areas of expertise are follows: curriculum, adolescent literacy, developmental reading and writing, and teaching high school English. She decided to make this transition because of her passion for supporting and mentoring pre-service teachers/student-teachers, as well as new/novice teachers. She believes in providing the support, guidance, resources, strategies, and words of encouragement and wisdom, which will provide her future and new/novice teachers with the foundation needed to be successful and resilient as they take on one of the most important roles one could ever possess.

Matthew Scott is an Earth Science Teacher at ‎Henrico County Public Schools. He is a Secondary Science Teacher, with strong interests in Space and Earth sciences. His experiences at NASA, as a field geologist, and travels around the country and abroad inform his views on science: science is best learned with hands-on experiences, with a skilled and passionate instructor to guide learning.

Dr. Mark King teaches Calculus with Analytic Geometry I and Statistics at The Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School. His statistics classes are built around hypothetical research scenarios, as well the real-word field studies students participate in at CBGS. Math and science “give us a glimpse of how amazing and wonderful the world around us truly is, even in its minutia,” says Dr. King.

Greg Dorsey is a 12th grade Duel Enrollment Physics teacher at the Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School who also does robotics and chess for the school. He has extensive summer and after school programming experience having taught physics, chess, astronomy, robotics, electronics and fishing over the last five summers.

Wes Lester  is an Earth Science teacher at Salem High School in Salem Virginia.  Wes Lester earned his BS in Geological Sciences from VT in 1994. From there he worked in the geotechnical engineering field until 1997 when he returned to VT to earn his MAED in Curriculum and Instruction. Later in 2012 Mr. Lester earned his MS in Educational Leadership in 2013. Wes has been teaching Earth Science at Salem High in Salem Virginia for 19 years and has worked with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium for the past 2 years. He has participated in BLAST, Virginia Space Coast Scholars, and other programs.