After a successful 18 years in the medical industry, Tashanda opted to take time off to stay home with her four children. During her time away from health care, she rediscovered a passion for nature, youth education and service learning. She volunteered and held positions with several nonprofit fundraising, leadership and youth committees, as well as outreach and service learning departments. She soon found herself taking classes at a local community college and was soon enrolled in a dual major of Resource and Recycling Management and Public Policy. She graduated with two AA’s to add to her previous education and enrolled in Arizona State University’s Public Policy Institute to study Sustainable Development. In the midst of an accelerated master’s program, Tashanda has already begun implementing what’s she’s learning in the form of environmental education and sustainable community practices. To date, Tashanda is applying innovative, relative, project and action-based, environmental education at Environmental Charter Middle School Inglewood as a Green Ambassadors Teacher. She develops human impact lessons that are adapted for her student population and provides engaging learning activities through garden-based education. Her continuous and relentless drive for ways to provide sustainable skills for communities that are often left behind, uninformed about local mandates, regulations and accessibility, has fueled her passion for teaching about environmental issues and sustainable solutions.
