Michelle Bolen Email and Phone Number

Lone Star College offers high- quality, affordable academic transfer and career training education to 99,000 students each semester. LSC is training tomorrow's workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. It is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area with an annual economic impact of nearly $3billion.I initially joined the Lone Star team as a Checkpoint Receptionist. Over a short span of time my role changed to Administrative Specialist 1 and currently I serve as a Specialist III in the Learning Commons at the Kingwood campus. Responsibilities include 3 types of work: circulation duties, technology assistance, and support for tutoring. I enjoy serving our students, staff, faculty and community members. Circulation duties include check-in/ check -out of items, processing holds, creating student ID's, and resolving fines using Symphony Workflows. Technology duties include offering support for Microsoft office, D2L, printing, scanning, and other Learning Commons Technology. Tutoring support duties include check in / check out for tutoring, explaining the tutoring lab process, and overseeing smooth operations for users and tutors. My greatest joy comes from connecting our students, staff, faculty, and community to resources that cultivate a culture of community, learning , and equity.2024 Staff Excellence Award Recipient - LSC Kingwood

Humble ISD is nationally recognized for the outstanding education it offers to its students and is currently the 31st largest district in the state of TX. Working at Creekwood Middle School under the direction of Walt Winicki , I had the opportunity to explore and integrate blended learning, project based learning, and critical thinking skills into the existing curriculum. I enjoyed teaching young scientists (90+ 6th graders) how to gather data, conduct experiments, and analyze data both in person and through distance learning formats. The Covid pandemic posed its challenges with all learning going to completely online overnight. The greatest reward was seeing 100% of my 6th graders participate and rise to the challenge of becoming "college students" overnight entering all assignments/ course work/ quizzes etc... using a platform called Schoology online. Wow!! So proud of them!! I communicated with parents, students, and colleagues using a variety of platforms to meet the needs of each learner and measure educational success. My goal: to inspire young people to connect their world with science concepts - Mission accomplished!

Mid West Vision Clinic specializes in serving a high volume of patients with an individualized approach. I enjoyed being part of a team of professionals that assisted patients, young and old, with seeing life as clearly as possible. My primary role was to pre-test patients, gather patient history, check visual acuities, provide the doctor with autorefraction, perform non-contact and tonopen tonometry, and take Opto Map fundus imaging. I assisted the doctor with various eye problems and patient follow up care. I enjoyed the challenges of modifying the diagnostic screening process to accommodate and overcome patients' special needs and frustrations. I often resolved patient questions and anxieties regarding treatment and medications. I also sterilized instruments, ordered supplies, and patient medications. I enjoyed the role immensely as I had the opportunity to learn new things, connect with patients, and be a part of building a team that worked well together maximizing the patient's experience.

The Clinton Community School District is one of the 30 largest school districts in the state of Iowa with over 3,900 students enrolled in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. The district has 6 buildings which include four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The organizational structure provides four (K-5) elementary schools, a (6-8) middle school, a (9-12) high school and seven community preschool partners. Before the merger of the two middle schools in 2014, I was employed as the eighth grade science teacher for Lyons Middle School under principal Dan Boyd. There I taught heterogeneously grouped 8th grade science with inclusion of Level I, and Level II Special Education and BD students with para educator support. I created, developed, and implemented spiraled 8th grade curriculum to align with Iowa Core Science objectives and PLC goals. I intentionally recruited and integrated community resources to make science relevant and to expose students to STEM career options. The utilization of Gradual Release of Instruction, Whole Class Inquiry, and RTI helped facilitate effective classroom learning. My greatest joy was seeing these 8th graders become excited about science, grow as individuals, and successfully transition to the high school.

Before its closure in the Spring of 2017, Ashford University had a land campus presence in Clinton Iowa. Throughout my time there as an Associate Instructor, I was able to develop and grow the Intro to Environmental Chemistry Course (ENV 108/CHE 108). I enjoyed developing and designing course and laboratory experiences for non-science majors, predominantly freshman. I was granted permission to utilize community resources to aid in making the course relevant for life-long learning by the Department Head, Dr. John Zimmerman. Students experienced visiting a nuclear plant, and a state of the art waste water treatment facility as we discussed issues pertaining to the use of nuclear power and sought to better understand water usage. Technology and varied instructional techniques were employed to make our students more well rounded, educated citizens. I served as a University Supervisor through the College of Education for Student Teaching Field Experience for science educators. It was after serving as a Supervisor for a middle school placement that I felt called to return to the public school classroom as a full time middle school educator. My time at Ashford with the science department has been one of the highlights of my career. Why? Because I had the opportunity to develop relationships with individual students as they transitioned into the professional realm! It was apparent in the Fall of 2014 that the future of the land campus was uncertain as the hiring of Adjunct Faculty was limited and discouraged.

At Hardin County High School, I taught homogeneously grouped on-level and honors courses predominantly for freshman. Creative teaching techniques were used to communicate the relevance of science through the use of inquiry demonstrations, every-day at home experiments, costumes, guest speakers, hands-on activities, and community awareness issues. Using the Olweus bullying program, I facilitated the launch of the district wide bullying committee and educated staff members for professional development. End of Course exams were given and I maintained Tennessee Value Added results in the upper 95 percentile for all students. I served as Co-chair of the School Improvement Plan Action Committee.

While working for Humble ISD, I was a life science teacher at Atascocita Middle School under the direction of Principal Ron Westerfield. There I taught homogeneously grouped on-level and accelerated seventh grade science students. I worked with a wonderful team of colleagues and we had the opportunity to write curriculum to incorporate science in interdisciplinary teaching as well as within our department. My science team and I presented at the 1998 Texas Middle School Association Conference. I served as a Student Council Advisor and was nominated by peers for Teacher of the Year in the Spring of my second year there.

While at Watertown City Schools, I worked at Case Junior High under the direction of Principal Phillip Pratt. There I developed and implemented alternative assessment techniques for heterogeneously grouped 8th grade science classes. I completed my Masters of Science in Education from SUNY Potsdam. During the course of my program there, I looked at research on alternative assessment. While at Case Junior, I wrote curriculum to include aspects of earth science. My time there included a close partnership with the local Sci-Tech museum as I served on the Board there and with the Jefferson County Youth Program. I was the 1996 Keynote speaker for "Celebration of Teaching" event at Jefferson Community College. In the Fall of 1994, I received the Middle Level STANYS Excellence in Teaching Award. I presented at the luncheon to an audience of middle school educators. (STANYS = Science Teachers Association of New York State). My article: "Science Incognito" was published in the October 1994 edition of Science Scope magazine.

While working at Lewiston City Schools , I taught at Lewiston Junior High school under the direction of Mr. Charlie Douglas. I taught homogeneously grouped classes/ some behaviorally impaired students with a fantastic BD teacher named Rhonda LaPointe. This was my very first teaching job and I was paired with an incredible mentor and team. Such fond memories of working with a wonderful staff! My role there , included reviewing and improving 8th grade curriculum to place greater emphasis on problem solving.

While at N.I.S.T., I worked as a summer intern aiding in the analysis, preparation, and research of Standard Reference Material 2694, Simulated Rainwater. I published my report of analysis and was offered the opportunity to return upon graduation. I did not seek out this opportunity upon graduating as my true passion was in teaching. National Bureau of Standards Publications, March 1990: “Published Report of Analysis for SRM 186”National Bureau of Standards Publications, September 1989: “Published Report of Analysis for SRM 3191, 3192, 3193”