Bri CasselliusMN & WI Lead Teacher: Orbit Earth Expo Bri was born and raised in Eastern Wisconsin before earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has over 12 years experience teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms, Title I, and English Language Learning in Kansas and Wisconsin. Bri settled in River Falls, Wisconsin with her husband, four sons, and two dogs. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, traveling the world, going on adventures with her family, and watching movies. |
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Rudy FordMN & WI Lead Teacher: Orbit Earth Expo Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Rudy Ford has lived all around the country and currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota. After earning his BS in Psychology at Williams College, Rudy taught full time for 13 years before moving into school leadership and spending 15 years as a middle school principal. He’s excited to continue his journey as an educational consultant and a member of the SparkPoint Innovations team. In his spare time, Rudy enjoys biking, kayaking, watching baseball, and caring for his dog and four cats. |
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Tracy CusterMarketing Director Tracy is a lifelong resident of North Carolina, though she loves to travel. She was a NC Teaching Fellow at Elon College and earned her M-LIS degree from UNC-Greensboro. She has been a classroom teacher, school librarian, and technology guru over the course of her twenty plus years in public education. She was the Orbit Earth Expo lead teacher for the Carolinas from 2015-2019 and is passionate about making earth science accessible for K-8 students. She is married and has two children in their early twenties. When she is not working, she loves to read, play the Sims, and spend time with her family, which includes four cats and a bearded dragon. |
Students journey into space to create and experience the cycles, systems and relationships between the earth, moon and sun using our huge, inflatable Earth model and scale-sized moon. While interacting with the inflatable representations in a darkened gymnasium with a light to represent the sun, students manipulate the models to experience eclipses, seasonal/lunar cycles, creation of winds, day/night cycles, tides, rotation vs revolution, physical characteristics of the earth, moon and sun, gravity, order of the planets, seasons and more! The Orbit Earth Expo Program correlates to the state and grade level science objectives. There are different age-appropriate programs for each grade level.