b'ful of students. Theclassexplorestheinterrela-tionships of the natural world and teaches students to identify human and man-made environmental prob-lems. Although the course had low studentenrollment,Biasuccisays Silver tripled the number of signups for the class in one year. Unfortu-nately, not all the interest can be met due to district budget constraints.Silversteachingscheduleisde-manding.However,shethrivesin this environment, finding immense Chloe Barter (right) talks about the prin- satisfactioninstudentinteractions. ciples guiding her group\'s sustainableHer students get just as much out cities project, "Harmony Harbors." of their relationships. Matthew Mo-loney says, We arent just learning Columbia High School faculty.what type of rock is found deep in Inshortorder,Silverexpandedmines, we are learning how it feels into teaching environmental science. because she spent time in South SaysSTEMSupervisorParsio,African mines.Working with Dr. Silver is inspiring.During the pandemic, she faced Herextensiveexperienceworkingthe challenge of continuing her stu-for a large oil company allows her todents science research projects. One bring the environmental science cur- project involved a team of students riculum to life, connecting theoreticalattempting to create a genetically ef-concepts to practical applications. ficient lettuce. The students needed CHSAPBiologyandEnviron- access to the schools growing cabinet mental Science teacher Amy Biasucci(a large box for growing seeds that We keep you smiling! says, I co-taught with Dr. Silver forallows students to grow under con-one semester and experienced first- trolled conditions) to complete their hand [Silvers] attention to detail inresearch.Butwithschoolslocked, planning, delivering, and evaluatingthingslookedgrimforaproject lessons. She is always looking for thethey had spent years planning. Sil-Everyeffortismadeto most relevant and challenging waysver worked behind the scenes to get ensure the utmost comfortto teach a topic. This year, Dr. Silverpermissiontotransporttheequip-for each patient. took on the AP Environmental Sci- ment to a students home, which al-Enjoy a modern profession- ence course, which had just a hand- lowed them to complete their 3-year al environment and a caring staff.As a former faculty member of Fairleigh Dickinson Den-tal School, Dr. Wisz now de-votes all her time to private practice.Wendy Wisz, DMDGeneral, Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry250 Millburn Avenue | Millburn973-467-0077Saturdays and Evenings AvailableOn site parking | Convenient locationDr. Silver reviews a group\'s sustainable cities project called "The Circle of Life."14/ matters magazine / school 2024'