Introductions and Guest Speakers

Rachel says Welcome!

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Hello, and welcome to STEM Integrations!

My name is Rachel Geesa, and I am the co-founder of STEM Integrations LLC with my friend, colleague, and fellow co-founder, Krista Stith. We are excited to launch STEM Integrations, and thank you for joining us in this journey!

While Krista shared information about our history and purpose in developing STEM Integrations, here is a bit of information about me.

I am from Indiana and proud to be a Hoosier! While earning a Bachelor of Arts in art education, art history, fine arts, and photography at Purdue University, I studied abroad in Oxford, England and Florence, Italy and discovered a passion for learning more about the world in which we live in through travel, cultural experiences, and meeting people. To me, travelling is much more than a vacation. It is an education and a way of life to promote kindness, understanding, creativity, and communication with others (which is hard to gain through textbooks).

After teaching art in the Indianapolis area for a couple of years and earning a Masters of Art Education at the Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University, I took a teaching position with the United States Department of Defense Education Activity. This was a life-changing opportunity to live in Seoul, South Korea, teach art, explore Asia, serve United States military children and families, and make lifelong friends.

While in this position, I decided to further my education in gifted education studies and educational leadership. Through online education, I earned a Masters of Art in Educational Psychology, Masters of Education in Educational Administration, Education Specialist in School Superintendency, and Doctor of Education in Educational Administration and Supervision at Ball State University. With my administrative training, I then served as the assistant principal of a school on a military base in Yokosuka, Japan and a gifted resources specialist in Quantico, Virginia. 

After joining Ball State’s Department of Educational Leadership, I began research related to leadership and STEM/STEAM education. Through my educational and professional experiences, I continue to find that students thrive in learning environments where they have opportunities to take ownership in their learning, solve real-world problems, think creatively, and have fun! I’ve enjoyed working with Krista on a variety of projects, along with Dr. Annette Rose who has been a wonderful mentor to us, and I look forward to our work within STEM Integrations.

In my free time, I love to take photographs, workout, garden, cook, travel, volunteer, and spend time with family and friends who mean so much to me.

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Thank you for taking some time to get to know us, and we would love to hear about you and your interests in STEM/STEAM education!

Krista says Welcome!

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Greetings and welcome to STEM Integrations! My name is Krista Stith and I am the co-founder of STEM Integrations LLC based out of Indianapolis. This is such an exciting journey into the unknown with my colleague and fellow co-founder, Rachel Geesa. Rachel and I met in 2017 while working at Ball State University with the intention of submitting a grant that we were hoping would lead to a STEM education course at the university. We felt that a course like this would help prepare future educators for the scientific and technological world we live in.

What started off as a small grant proposal turned into a multi-year nationwide study on STEM leadership, international presentations, a plethora of publications, and a book deal! We are so thankful for our fellow authors, researchers, and supporters of the past three years- especially our fellow in arms, Dr. Annette Rose, who has been a mentor to us.

Within this blog we’ll share a lot of information from our research that we feel will be helpful for education leaders to build and sustain Integrative STEM programs. We will also invite guest speakers, talk about STEM programs and curricula, and a wonderful assortment of resources to that will help you on your own STEM journey.

With that being said, here are a few things about me!

I love my family, but coffee was technically here first

I am a military brat, but I usually say that I am from Virginia. I met my husband at our alma mater- Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. I have a Bachelors in Animal & Poultry Sciences, a Masters in Agricultural Extension & Education, and a Doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus on Integrative STEM Education. While in graduate school, I was a community college adjunct and a high school science teacher at a gifted magnet school. While my pedagogical approach was pretty traditional at the community college, I was given a lot of flexibility to pursue a more project-based learning approach with my junior and senior high school students. I’ll save this experience for another post.

I have been married for 10 years and we have 3 kiddos- Connor, Cailin, and Hannah. It has been a unique balance of my maintaining my job as a director at Ball State University, a parent, a wife, a small business owner, a children’s book author, all while trying to keep my family safe during the pandemic. The empty campus has been our own playground.

Thank you for visiting our new blog and we look forward to this exciting journey to support schools and districts with their 21st century programming!