Gerald Smith is a 20-year veteran teacher of high school math, who has spent time teaching in public schools in St. Louis, MO, Portland, OR, Renton, WA, and now Indiana, PA. Gerald also spent three years working with communities in East, and Southern Africa on increasing access to quality education. Gerald has also worked as a community organizer, coordinating a national health care coalition focused on eliminating racial disparities in health outcomes, leading a successful federal campaign to reauthorize an important health program for low-income children, and publishing living wage reports which helped to improve conditions for low-wage workers. Gerald has also been an active volunteer in his community, and has led film festivals and community news radio/web programs focused on spreading awareness of social issues and COVID-19 health information, raised funds to expand farmers market access to low income residents, and led the campaign to form the Indiana County Sustainable Economy Task Force. As a volunteer town councilor, he led his small, rural community through sustainable upgrades of our Waste Water Treatment Plant, and provided focus on stormwater management to alleviate flooding. Under Gerald's leadership, his community has taken concrete action to be a Sustainable, Welcoming Community, with a focus on civil rights.

Gerald’s focus for his Fulbright is understanding and learning from best practices in public policy to adapt and respond to challenges faced by climate change. In his hometown, the decline of the extraction industry has led to a decades long decline in population, and economic prosperity. Gerald plans to study coastal communities in Greece to learn how public policy has adapted to climate change threats to tourism, and Greece’s maritime economy. Gerald most enjoys spending time with his family, Dr. Amanda Poole, and children, Griffin, 15, and Zuzu, 12, bicycling, spending time outdoors, travel, and promoting creative solutions to old problems. He received his Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in Mathematics and Philosophy, and Master’s in Mathematics Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Julia Puckett is currently a 4th grade teacher at Columbine Elementary School located in Denver, Colorado. She has been teaching upper elementary education for the past 7 years in the Denver metro area. Columbine Elementary is an EL School which has allowed Julia the opportunity to create and design multiple learning opportunities for her students centered on authenticity and exploration. Some of these learning experiences include; walking to a neighborhood coffee shop to put on a poetry slam during students poetry unit and working with community members and students to make art prints for an art show with the goal of raising funds for a local non-profit.

Julia is an active member of her school's instructional and school wide leadership team where she helps to integrate the district's SEL curriculum as the Transformative Social Emotional and Academic Learning Specialist for her school. Julia received a bachelor's degree in History with a minor in Elementary Education from Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) in 2016. She also received a Master's degree in Teaching, Leadership, and Cultural Competency from The University of Iowa in 2019.  Julia is looking forward to researching in Greece with her toddler son and husband.

Her inquiry project is entitled "Creating a Culture of Belonging Through Transformative Social Emotional Learning in a Culturally Diverse Environment", which seeks to examine the ways educators create belonging in culturally diverse classrooms through culturally responsive practices and transformative social emotional learning strategies. Julia hopes to use the the results of her research to hold professional development workshops for teachers in her school district.