Jefferson's Fund for Teachers Recipients Set to Explore California Coastal Marine Ecology

Norwalk Public Schools is proud to celebrate four outstanding educators from Jefferson Marine Science Elementary School who have been selected as recipients of the highly competitive Fund for Teachers grant.

On March 31, Jefferson staff and students gathered for a special surprise announcement. Principal Cesar Nina and Superintendent Dr. Alexandra Estrella, joined by representatives from the Dalio Foundation, revealed the exciting news to the unsuspecting educators.

Congratulations to this year’s Fund for Teachers recipients:

Diana Walker, STEM Teacher
Maria Paris, Library Media Specialist and Gifted & Talented Teacher
Julie Signore, 5th Grade Science Teacher and Math Coach Assistant
Amy Luciana, 5th Grade Lead Teacher

This summer, these educators will travel to the West Coast to participate in the California Coastal Marine Ecology Professional Development Experience. During their journey, they will work alongside marine scientists, naturalists, and environmental educators to deepen their understanding of marine ecosystems and bring that knowledge back to their classrooms.

Their immersive experience will take them to some of California’s most renowned coastal locations, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, East Santa Cruz Island, Catalina Island, Año Nuevo State Park, and Big Sur. Along the way, they will explore jellyfish ecosystems, observe elephant seals in their natural habitat, and even snorkel through vibrant kelp forests.

Thank you to Dalio Education, whose generous funding made this grant possible. The Jefferson educators also received the Mary L. Fitch Trust Grant to help them with their trip.

California Coastal Marine Ecology Professional Development Experience

Their journey will include visits to incredible locations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, East Santa Cruz Island, Catalina Island, Año Nuevo State Park, and Big Sur, where they’ll study jellyfish ecosystems, observe elephant seals, and snorkel through kelp forests. See below for where they will be going and doing once they get there.

Monterey Bay Aquarium - Elementary Educator Institute*
  
Teachers will participate in a two-day professional development workshop focused on coral reef ecology and jellyfish ecosystems. This program provides expert-led instruction connecting classroom teaching to authentic marine science research conducted at one of the world's premier ocean research institutions. Teachers will learn age-appropriate strategies for teaching complex ecological concepts and gain access to Monterey Bay Aquarium's extensive educational resources.

Island Packers - Santa Cruz Island Day Trip
 
Teachers will explore East Santa Cruz Island, the largest island in California and part of Channel Islands National Park. This experience includes observation of endemic species such as the Santa Cruz Island Fox, investigation of Chumash cultural sites and Indigenous ecological knowledge, examination of unique geological formations, and study of island biogeography and adaptation. This component addresses NGSS standards related to biodiversity, evolution, and cultural perspectives on environmental stewardship.

The Ocean Institute - Catalina Island Ecology Safari
  
Teachers will participate in a 10-hour program aboard the research vessel R/V Sea Explorer, including navigation and bathymetric mapping activities, snorkeling in kelp forests at Blue Cavern, geological and botanical field investigations on Catalina Island, mudflat ecology studies, and catch-and-release fishing using scientific sampling protocols. This vessel-based research experience provides authentic field methodology training that teachers can adapt for student investigations.

Año Nuevo State Park - Elephant Seal Observation
  
Teachers will participate in guided naturalist walks to observe northern elephant seals during breeding season, learning about marine mammal life cycles, adaptations, and conservation. Northern elephant seals were hunted nearly to extinction but recovered through protection efforts—providing a powerful case study in conservation success and human impacts on ocean ecosystems. This directly addresses NGSS 5-ESS3 standards on human activity and Earth systems.

Big Sur Coastal Exploration

Teachers will explore Big Sur's dramatic coastline where the Santa Lucia Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, observing rocky intertidal tide pool ecosystems, examining coastal geological processes and landform evolution, and engaging in collaborative reflection and curriculum planning. This unstructured time allows teachers to process intensive learning experiences and design specific classroom applications.

2026 Fund for Teacher Recipients

Learn more about our incredible educators and how their experience will bring exciting real-world learning back to their classrooms.

Diana Walker

Walker is a nationally recognized Science Teacher of the Year, an honor earned through a highly competitive accredited national math and science competition. She teaches STEAM to all 460 Jefferson students, coordinates all school field trips, and serves as the school’s liaison with the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Her exceptional expertise and national platform position her to translate this professional development into exemplary practice and share learnings with educators regionally and nationally.

Walker’s participation ensures that cutting-edge marine science content will reach every student in our school through integrated STEAM instruction.

Maria Paris
  
Maria teaches all 460 students through library and makerspace instruction. She also serves as Jefferson’s Ocean Guardian mentor, leads the garden curriculum focused on the Norwalk watershed and ocean protection, manages the school's composting program, and aligns curriculum across all grade levels.

Her systems leadership role ensures that learning from this fellowship will be integrated throughout the school's operations and sustained over time. Paris’ cross-grade perspective enables her to ensure vertical alignment of marine science concepts from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Julie Signore

Signore provides direct science instruction to all 5th grade students which is a critical transition year before students choose whether to continue in the marine science pathway through middle and high school. As the Math Coach Assistant, she supports quantitative and analytical thinking across the school.

Her participation ensures that Jefferson’s graduating elementary students enter middle school with strong marine science content knowledge, field research skills, and the confidence to persist in advanced marine science coursework.

Amy Luciana

Luciana integrates all content areas into literacy instruction for 5th graders, making marine science accessible to all learners including English language learners. Her leadership ensures that scientific concepts are reinforced through reading, writing, and communication skills. Amy's participation guarantees that marine science learning will be embedded in language arts instruction, strengthening both content mastery and academic literacy for students as they transition to middle school.

About Fund for Teachers: 

Fund for Teachers trusts that teachers know what’s working with their students, in their classrooms, in their school communities better than anyone else. So, we go straight to these first responders and fund their pursuits to make learning more effective in their spheres of influence.  Individually, approximately 10,562 teachers have leveraged $40.5 million Fund for Teachers grants into growth (their students’ and their own) since 2001. These grant recipients (or FFT Fellows) constitute a national corps of empowered and validated educators, sought after in their communities and nationally as leaders, innovators, and change-makers:

• Who make learning relevant, meaningful and empowering for their students;
• Who inspire and lead professional growth of their colleagues;
• Who collaborate in sharing best practices, collective visioning, and solving shared problems;
• Whose input helps close the gap between sound policy and best practice.

About the Dalio Foundation:

Beginning in 2015, Dalio Education chose to invest in Connecticut teachers through Fund for Teachers, awarding $4.9 million in grants to 1,135 Connecticut teachers. Dalio Education funds statewide convenings of FFT Fellows, as well as special events for the cohort, including workshops to support their National Board Certified Teacher certification. These grant recipients also receive very special “Welcome to the Fund for Teachers Family” classroom surprise visits.

Dalio Philanthropies was founded by the Dalio family in 2003 to organize and implement their giving. We operate three primary programs in the areas of education and serving youth (Dalio Education), ocean exploration and protection (OceanX), and digital access (Endless). We also support organizations in a number of other focus areas to help catalyze positive change around the world. Since the inception of Dalio Philanthropies, the family has provided over $7 billion in support of its mission.