Susan Nelson
Little Village Lawndale School for Social Justice
About
Susan Nelson is entering her 12th year as a teacher of Biology and AP Biology at Little Village Lawndale School for Social Justice and her 16th year teaching and coaching cross country/ track in Chicago Public Schools. She is motivated to educate her students to succeed academically, to be able to go on in science, and to recognize and be critical about the world around them. Sue received her BA in Biology with a minor in Sociology from Kalamazoo College. During college she had the opportunity to go on an environmental studies program to Ecuador for eight months and was exposed to the exploitation of the Amazon by foreign corporations and of indigenous women working in the rose industry. It forever changed her ideas about the world and motivated her to see injustices in the world around her. After college, she was fortunate to complete an Americorps position in teaching. This led her into an alternative certification program and allowed her to finish a MAT degree from National Louis University. She married a man thankfully committed to the same ideals and they have 3 amazing kids. Sue continues to look for ways to make Biology real for students and to be excited about the prospect of teaching social justice through science to help empower students in the Lawndale community.