Our Leadership Team



The leadership team assists LSSI’s efforts in strengthening our local community connection and responsibility to Lake Superior and its watershed. The team coordinates teacher professional learning, facilitates community-school partnerships, mentors school-community teams, coordinates LSSI-wide community activities, and manages the budget, policies, and procedures for the hub.

 

Carla Strome, LSSI Director
Carla Strome portraitEmail: cstrome@copperisd.org

Carla Strome is the Director of General Education for the Copper Country ISD. She has been in the education field for 33 years in various roles including teacher, K-12 Curriculum Coordinator, Educational Consultant, and ISD Administrator. She has coordinated and provided hundreds of hours of professional development for teachers over her career. Carla began her journey with project-based learning with middle schoolers in the late 90s and has been a strong advocate for 3P learning ever since. She has worked collaboratively on several projects with the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative since its inception in 2007 and assumed the role of director in 2023. Carla received her BA in elementary education from Spring Arbor University, an MA in elementary education from Northern Michigan University and a K-12 administrator certification from Michigan State University. Carla has served as an adjunct instructor for Finlandia University, Michigan Tech University, and Northern Michigan University.

Joan Chadde
Joan Chadde portraitCenter for Science and Environmental Outreach, Director, Retired
Email: jchadde@gmail.com

A member of the Leadership Team for the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative since 2007, Joan Chadde has an M.S. in Water Resources and Secondary Science certification and was Director of the Michigan Tech Center for Science & Environmental Outreach (retired). She has more than 30 years of experience in K-12 STEM and environmental education program development and delivery, including teacher professional learning. She is the lead author of the Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum Support (MEECS) Water Quality Unit (2012) and coordinated a 2-year EPA-funded project titled “Creating Great Lakes Stewards to Promote Clean Water & Healthy Urban Watersheds in Detroit.”

Emily Geiger
Emily Geiger portraitWestern U.P. MiSTEM Network Director
Email: egeiger@copperisd.org

Emily Geiger currently serves as the Western U.P. MiSTEM Network Director. In this work she connects and convenes the K-12 education system (Copper Country ISD and Gogebic-Ontonagon ISD) with community partnerships and opportunities to advance STEM education. Emily has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan Technological University and has worked in higher education for over a decade in Houghton County. Her invaluable experience in building partnerships from various entrepreneurship ventures contributes directly to the work of LSSI. Emily’s passion for place-based education has amplified as a mother of two young boys; her dream is for them to feel connected to their place!

Jennifer Lynn, Ed.D., Learning and Continuous Improvement Consultant
Jennifer Lynn portraitEmail:Email: jlynn@copperisd.org

Jennifer Lynn is a 3P and Continuous Improvement Consultant with the Copper Country Intermediate School District. Jennifer holds a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and both a master's and a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. Jennifer brings 15 years of administrative and 15 years of teaching experience ranging from developmental kindergarten through eighth grade science. Most of this time has been serving schools in Lake Superior's watershed. Her belief is that our woods and waters are our greatest classrooms.

Erika Vye, School-Community Team Mentor & Professional Learning Coordinator
Erika Vye portraitEmail: ecvye@mtu.edu

Erika Vye is a Geosciences Research Scientist and part of the University-Indigenous Community Partnerships program at the Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University. She believes that we have strong relationships with rocks and landscapes that connect us and shape our sense of place. Erika works with many valued community partners as a geoheritage educator and outreach specialist focused on formal and informal place-based education initiatives that help broaden Earth science and Great Lakes literacy through shared ways of knowing.

Lloyd Wescoat, MTU Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, RetiredLloyd Wescoat portrait
Email: lwescoat@mtu.edu

Lloyd Wescoat has an MA in elementary education and background in service learning. As a member of the LSSI leadership team since 2008, she supports teachers, students, and community partners in planning and implementing place-based stewardship projects and in conducting professional learning communities.