Our Team
Mary Beth Hertz, a Walkabout alum, has been teaching young people in Philadelphia since 2003. She has been at the forefront of technology integration in the classroom through local, national, and global connections with other educators and leaders in the educational technology field. She was named a 2010 ISTE Emerging Leader, a 2013 ASCD Emerging Leader, 2013 PAECT Teacher of the Year, and was a co-founder of EdCamp Philly and the Edcamp Foundation. 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. Mary Beth is a champion of purpose-driven, experiential learning and has centered student choice and hands-on experiences in her classroom since she began her career in education. In her current position at SLA Beeber, she has designed and implemented an experiential learning program for grades 5-11 that centers around volunteering, service learning, and internship experiences. These are modeled closely after her experiences as a Walkabout student. Mary Beth has been exploring opportunities to bring Walkabout to Philadelphia.
More information about Mary Beth and Walkabout Philly can be found at: http://marybethhertz.me and http://walkaboutphilly.org.
After graduating from the Walkabout Program, Peg Cioffi returned in the role of English teacher for 17 years. Peg received a BA in literature from Norwich University and an MA in Theology from Union Theological Seminary where she studied sacred and secular literature of antiquity and biblical languages. She holds NY State secondary teaching certification in English.
Peg has always been passionate about language and the myriad ways humans have used it to communicate our deepest truths over millennia. She believes that experiential, interdisciplinary education is the best means of nurturing young people toward discovering, articulating and ultimately living their truth. Her current role in WE is Director of Curriculum and Instruction.