Before working as a 6-8 grade science, art, and technology teacher in her rural community, Stacey worked in a group home for adults with developmental disabilities for many years, and enjoyed learning from her clients and teaching them life skills. Working with adults with disabilities provided her with an opportunity to teach individuals on many cognitive levels. When her son started elementary school, she began volunteering in his classroom and realized she loved participating in student inquiry and learning and she returned to school to earn the degrees to become a classroom educator, focusing on place-based and project-based learning. In her first year as a 4th and 5th grade teacher, she piloted the Engineering is Elementary curriculum out of the Boston Museum of Science, which actively engaged her students in science through reading, dialogue, argumentation, and activities and began to design, implement, and adapt her science curriculum for her learners. She transitioned to middle school and was awarded the OMSI science teacher of the year in 2016, and the 4 H Wildlife Stewardship award in 2019 for leadership, and was a national and state finalist for Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in 2023. She works with her students and partner teachers in the Ukraine to bring engaging robotics experiences to their students- even when they’re learning out of bomb shelters.