DREAM FLIGHT ADVENTURES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Flight Director With the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Buccaneer at Stewart Elementary
Brian Colgan has spent the last 18 years teaching in the Burrell School District, where he grew up and attended school. He spent the first 15 years of his career coaching high school baseball for the district. He started as a personal care assistant working with autistic children for 2 years, then taught Kindergarten -5th grade science for 12 years.
Brian is currently the Elementary Science Specialist at Stewart Elementary School, a 4-5 STEM building, where he models/coaches/instructs inquiry based education, teaches robotics using Lego Mindstorms, and organizes the school's 4th/5th grade Science Olympiad.
Brian is also a K-3 Gifted Support Teacher for Burrell School District's primary building, Bon Air Elementary. He feels honored to have been chosen to be the Flight Director of the IKS Buccaneer and is very excited to begin flying missions for his students at Burrell School District.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Highlander at Harrison Middle School
Debbie Reynolds is a Texan that ended up in Pittsburgh almost 10 years ago via Chicago, Philly, Minneapolis, and Jacksonville first. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1986 with a degree in Biology and a double minor in Life/Earth Science and Forestry. She has been teaching since 1986 with the exception of time during her job relocations. Debbie and her husband Mike have been married for 27 years and they have three children, Matt-25, Bobby-24 and Kelly-21.
Debbie is starting her 9th year in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District and just finished her first year as a 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Harrison Middle School. Previously, she was the Gifted Coordinator at Baldwin High School. Debbie is very passionate about STEM and recently completed her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with a STEM emphasis. She currently serves on the district's STEM Leadership team, and she is super excited to be working with the IKS Highlander and integrating the program into all areas of her curriculum.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director With the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh
Emma Fraser is currently a STEM Educator for the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh working with their after school programs. She brings fun STEM activities into the program and encourages students to be creative and develop problem solving skills. She received her Bachelor of Environmental Science from Allegheny College and has been working with children for the past 6 years. Emma enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and backpacking, and she loves teaching about science and nature.
Job Titles:
- Creative Director, Co - Creator
Gary Gardiner is a jack of all trades, master of business administration. He launches tech companies, develops entertainment technologies, and practices the discipline of getting things done by making them fun. He loves operating at the forefront of engaging new educational and entertainment technologies.
Gary was inspired to create Dream Flight Adventures when he was in 5th grade and had the chance to attend the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, where he saw the power immersive simulators had to capture the imagination and inspire the mind.
He pursues a whole-brain approach to the world, combining his creativity, design, and story-telling talent with his passion for structures, systems, and quantified results, and he has applied this approach to Dream Flight Adventures.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Titan at Shaler Area Elementary
Heather Oros has been teaching since 2001 and at Shaler Area School District since 2006. Over the years she has taught 5th Grade, Reading Intervention, and currently serves as the Teacher of the Gifted and the 5th Grade Chairperson.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Niagara at Frazier Elementary School
Will has been rising through the ranks of the Frazier School District for 14 years, most of which have been spent in 5th grade.
His first successful solo piloting came on his Trek 7500. He has over 15,000 miles of Rail Trails in 25 states under his belt. During that time, he has also piloted a 1998 Subaru Forester mothership throughout the country. His missions usually point west, following the sound of the banjo and tasty smells of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.
Will is excited to be one of three Commodores in charge of the IKS Niagara at Frazier.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Niagara at Frazier Elementary School
Larry Sutton is a native of Pennsylvania, but has spent much of his early years traveling his terrestrial home - Earth! Then in 1998, following different careers in the terrestrial and celestial planes, Larry began teaching in the Frazier School District. His career started in kindergarten with exciting new changes as the authentic Kindergarten Cop. Then, with a jump into third grade, Larry has sought to create the ideal Science experience. He continued to build upon his classroom activities, until third grade became departmentalized and the floodgates opened. Now with NASA, Rocketry, Trout in the Classroom, Life Cycles of Decomposers, Hydroponics closets and a slew of plant and animal life, students are granted an exciting experience of Scientific exploration.
With this in mind, Larry is excited to be chosen as an IKS Flight Director. He is ready to start coordinating flights for his students and connecting their missions into the classroom activities that span the core of third grade. "To boldly go, where no third grader has gone before!"
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- General Manager of North American Operations
Born decades before the others, Mike Penn is either a victim or fate or was destined to be part of this wonderful opportunity. Mike started out in Electrical Engineering but ended with degrees of various magnitudes in History, Political Science, and Education. After some time in the Army, Mike started his teaching career first in Kindergarten, then "severely and profoundly" handicapped children, and then has been living the dream of his calling teaching Gifted students at Shaler Area School District for the past twenty some years.
While not a charter member of the Dream Team, destiny put Mike in the right place at the right time yet again. Successfully teaching gifted and talented students has a way of making one flexible, positive, dynamic, and innovative. While Mike won't admit to any of those qualities, he sure aspires to all of them!
Mike likes to think of himself as someone who is a work in progress. He loves his vocation and the kids he teaches and he is serious about getting students to LOVE learning as a lifelong adventure.
Job Titles:
- Design Director, Co - Creator
Sarah Gardiner is one of the core creative powers behind Dream Flight Adventures. She has a passion for education, working with children, and creating unforgettable experiences.
Whether it be mission creation, simulator design, or curriculum development, nearly every aspect of Dream Flight Adventures has benefited from Sarah's touch. Sarah is a master of weaving together multifaceted experiences in a way that is both compelling and easy to understand.
Sarah loves teaching, science, and creative writing. She has an education in biotechnology and has launched her own preschool, written novellas, and created unique murder mystery dinners. She blends all of these interests and skills to make Dream Flight Adventures magical.
Job Titles:
- Flight Director of the IKS Artemis Charger at Colegio International De Carabobo
Todd Lichtenwalter is the Flight Director for the first overseas Dream Flight simulator located in Valencia, Venezuela at Colegio International de Carabobo. Todd, a science teacher of 15 years, has taught in Texas, Ghana, Lebanon, and Venezuela where he is now serving as the full-time Flight Director running 2-hour missions in the morning and afternoons for the schools grade 3-12 classes. In addition, he is the school's technology mentor and varsity soccer coach.