Michael Cruse

Michael Cruse is a secondary school resource teacher at the Arlington Career Center, in Arlington, VA, where he also serves on the superintendent's environmental sustainability committee.  He has worked with committee members to develop a school-based sustainability liaison program, supporting teacher-liaisons' capacity to address environmental projects with students.

At the Career Center, he initiated a closed loop compost system for the culinary arts program, where culinary students are composting their scraps and growing herbs and micro-greens for use in their commercial kitchen.  He has received funding from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a student-led Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) study, and horticulture remediation project.  He has also received local community foundation funds for arts-based crosswalks at several Arlington elementary schools, promoting sustainable transportation choices.

In 2018, Mike received a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching fellowship to study green schools and environmental education in Israel and Palestine.  His inquiry project focused on pluralistic school and community-based programs that support environmental stewardship in contested landscapes.  He has blogged about his work for Education Week, and National Geographic Education.  He has also written for Urban Environmental Education and Techniques Magazine, the journal of the Association of Career and Technical Education.  

Mike is a manuscript reviewer for the National Science Teachers Association's publication, Science & Children.  He is also currently serving a two year term on the advisory board of the U.S. Green Building Council's Center for Green Schools, where he has helped advise the organization's outreach and communications, and peer reviewed presentations for the Green Schools National Network's annual conference.  He is also a volunteer conference presentation reviewer for NAAEE. 

Mike seeks opportunities to give students and teachers the tools to improve their communities, and platforms to share their stories.  He believes that urban youth and educators should be at the forefront of addressing the impacts of climate change, and advocating for more sustainable cities.