Polina Goncharova

Polina is a passionate advocate for environmental literacy and education. Growing up in the East Bay, she split her time between Oakland and Castro Valley, where her love for animals and nature blossomed through visits to the Oakland Zoo and explorations of local natural spaces. Polina’s dedication to fostering a connection with the environment inspired her to incorporate outdoor learning and sustainability into her work as a teacher. As a former special and general education teacher in Washington, D.C., she emphasized environmental literacy and outdoor education in the general education space, recognizing their benefits for Social and Emotional Learning and language acquisition for multilingual learners. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Analysis from Pitzer College and a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University. In her free time, Polina enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, reading, and spending time with family, friends, and her cats.