Brian was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. Brian has always been a sports fanatic and enjoys playing any sports. He also loves going to the gym to exercise. Brian was a high school varsity basketball team member and has some of his best memories from those times. He is a graduate of the University of Florida. Brian recently moved to the Philadelphia area in June to be with his wife Kristen, who is also in education.
Mr. Rosen-Long is a founding member of SLA Beeber, teaching Spanish alongside a variety of other classes. He is originally from Brooklyn, NYC, but moved to the Philly area to attend college at Haverford College. He loves to travel, and learned Spanish while living in Chile and Honduras. When he’s not teaching, you can find him gardening, talking about politics, or watching/playing soccer.
Melissa Moran-Johnson is a native New Yorker. She was born, raised and educated in the Bronx. She moved to Philadelphia and fell in love with this wonderful city and all of it’s amazing opportunities. She teaches students Spanish levels 2 and 3 at SLA Beeber. She also organizes and leads school fundraisers for international travel to Costa Rica and Guatemala. She loves spending time with her wife Christina and they are new parents with a baby girl!
Gina Dukes is a proud Philly native and Science Leadership Academy’s 3rd class graduate! She is Beeber’s CTE Education teacher, which means she teaches a class for aspiring educators, leaders, and change-makers! Gina is passionate about creating a class environment where students feel encouraged to discover the power of their voice, analyze the education system critically, and learn ways to change the system and their communities for the better.
Max Lawrence has been an official member of Science a Leadership Academy at Beeber’s staff since the 2016-17 school year as the Director of the Engineering program. He teaches students Introduction to Engineering, CTE courses, and is the all-around fix-it/build-it person. He attended Cornell University and Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in Painting. Prior to joining the SLAB team, Mr. Lawrence worked in the field of engineering on a wide range of projects: serving an apprenticeship at Analog Lab, a residency at the Clocktower Museum in NYC, creating and running animatronics engineering for San Fransisco MOMA’s 75 year Anniversary exhibit, being an exhibitor at several art institutes and museums including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, audio engineering video and music production, and software and electronic engineering for nonprofits in the Philadelphia area to benefit communities in need, especially but not exclusively to Philadelphia’s youth. He stumbled into engineering curriculum creation for The Hacktory in Philadelphia and hasn’t left the field of education since. He has guest lectured and taught all over the country from Black Mountain School in North Carolina, to UPenn, to holding the Lead Instructor role at the Maker Faire in DC where he won two Editors Choice Awards.
At SLAB, Mr Lawrence’s responsibilities far outreach the MakerSpace and Engineering department. In addition to running the department and writing the curriculum, he also can be found working on a number of projects for the building’s various needs. Whether it’s creating an outdoor learning space, building the sets for the school play, running the sound system for assemblies, or basically building anything needed from scratch, Mr Lawrence and his team of aspiring engineers can be found any day of the week, year round, working towards providing essential engineering needs for the SLAB community.
Ms. Hertz – Intro to Tech and Visual Arts
Mary Beth Hertz has been teaching in Philadelphia since 2003 and has been teaching students Intro to Tech and Visual Art here at SLA Beeber since 2013. She attended Oberlin College for her undergrad studies and has a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology from Saint Joseph’s University. She has been at the forefront of technology integration in the classroom. She was a 2010 ISTE Emerging Leader, a 2013 ASCD Emerging Leader, 2013 PAECT Teacher of the Year. Her book, “Digital and Media Literacy in the Age of the Internet: Practical Classroom Applications” shares her experience and expertise teaching digital and media literacy in K-12 classrooms.
Stephanie Phillips is a graduate of Augusta University and Temple University with both her bachelors in Classical Percussion and masters in Jazz Performance. She is a lover of music and loves to support the arts in any way. She is a multi-instrumentalist and performer. Outside of music, Stephanie plays basketball and has taken up the sport of boxing as well. She started to pursue teaching to give the youth an experience she was not able to have.
Ms. Allen – FaCS – Fashion, Textiles, and Apparel
Lisa Allen is a Philadelphia native. She attended and graduated from Philadelphia public schools. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, majoring in Textile Design and a Master’s Degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, majoring in Family and Consumer Sciences: Textiles Fashion & Apparel. She was inspired to teach by great teachers. She loves teaching and impacting lives. Ms. Allen enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, singing and gardening.
Ms. Desrouleaux
Mr. Danihel
Mr. Schmidt
Mr. Rosen-Long
Ms. Dukes
Ms. Philips
Ms. Pironti