Samantha Oester

Faculty Advisor
Brian Schwenk is currently a science teacher at Falls Church High School in Falls Church, VA. He has been teaching there for 3 years. He currently teaches Biology for English Learners and STEM Essentials for English Learners. He obtained his BS in Biology from James Madison University in 2013, and he obtained his MAT from James Madison University in 2015. He is excited for his first summer with WYSE!
Faculty Advisor
Jim Poyser left his 2-decade career in journalism because of his urgency regarding climate change, joining Earth Charter Indiana as its executive director in September, 2013, to engage Indiana young people in climate leadership. Poyser directs Youth Power Indiana, ECI’s youth program responsible for the passage of climate recovery resolutions in three Indiana cities. He was trained by the Climate Reality Project and has created the world’s first climate change game show, The Ain’t Too Late Show. He lives in Indianapolis on the White River.
Faculty Advisor
Last fall Tom left his position as Senior Manager of Business Development at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) in Boston to pursue a Master of Divinity at Boston University School of Theology. Prior to working at MassCEC, Tom was Director of Business Development for The Vertex Companies, Inc. – a Boston-based international environmental consulting firm. Tom also developed the Energy and Sustainability Division at Vertex and started with the company as a project manager in the International division. Before moving to Boston, Tom spent a number of years living in Europe (UK, Italy, Spain) as a Fulbrighter to the European Union (2006-2007) and working in the program administration of the International MBA program at IE Business School in Madrid. He then spent a couple of years working in environmental and green building consulting in Dubai.
Originally from Kansas, Tom holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of Kansas and a master’s in European Politics, Policy and Society granted jointly by the University of Bath (UK) and other members of the Euromaster’s consortium of European universities.