Sandy Guinto is a veteran teacher who spent over a decade teaching in a STEM designated school before joining Battelle in 2022 as a STEM Relationship Manager. Sandy firmly believes that everyone has the ability to learn if given the right tools. Her work has been concentrated on economically disadvantaged students and schools, where she has focused on opening up opportunities for students well beyond a traditional classroom.
During her career, Sandy created school maker spaces in two districts in which she taught. One space was a FAB Lab that was retrofitted into an unoccupied library. In addition to creating the space, she developed a math curriculum that embedded the maker space equipment into students’ learning while reinforcing the appropriate grade level state standards. In the other district, Sandy was integral in creating extensions of the Library/Media areas to include makerspaces, for both middle and elementary schools. She trained Media Specialists at the school on the equipment to prepare these staff to serve as facilitators for teachers in their buildings, incorporating maker spaces into the curriculums throughout the school.
Sandy holds a BS in Environment, Textile and Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters in Teaching-Language Art/Math from Otterbein University. In addition, she studied with the Ohio State University/Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stand Up for Shakespeare program, where she spent three summers training with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s education experts both in Stratford, England and in the United States. Sandy became a mentor teacher in the program where she learned to teach educators how to incorporate dramatic inquiry techniques into STEM classrooms of all content areas.
In her spare time, Sandy enjoys spending time with her husband, kids and large extended family. In addition, she is up for anything involving travel, creativity or being outdoors.