About the Presenters

Merek Chang is the District Secondary Science and Technology TOSA for Hacienda La Puente Unified School District and a former high school biology and chemistry teacher at William Workman High School in the City of Industry, 10 miles east of Los Angeles. Over the past six years, Merek has made it his mission to connect the community to the classroom through the lens of science. Merek’s students have participated in numerous projects that involved businesses, community groups, and local government agencies. Merek has helped Workman High School earn two California Civic Learning Awards and numerous grants from local agencies to support civic learning in the classroom. Merek is also a KQED Media Literacy Innovator and over the past two years has worked with KQED and other PBS member stations on curriculum development and implementation of youth media challenges to uplift student voices, particularly students of color. Merek is also an item writer with Educational Testing Services and worked to develop more student-centered questions for the California Science Test. In his spare time, Merek enjoys cooking and experimenting with fermented foods, and the occasional round of golf.

Rachel Roberson is an experienced teacher leader and curriculum content developer who has served as a classroom teacher and administrator at public, charter, and international schools. Rachel specializes in professional learning facilitation and curriculum development, strategy, and implementation. At KQED, she works to connect educators and students to KQED online education sites, KQED Learn and KQED Teach, by creating humanities curricula and professional learning content, supporting product development, championing youth-created media in and out of the classroom, and leading projects and partnerships focused on teachers and classrooms. Rachel is a graduate of Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and received her California teaching credential in secondary English and social studies from Mills College.

Angel Valerio is KQED’s Program Manager for STEM Education Professional Learning and a Secondary Science Field Supervisor for University of San Francisco’s Urban Education and Social Justice Teacher Education Program. She leads professional development workshops for educators, with the focus on incorporating media literacy skills in science instruction, and is an instructor and course developer for KQED’s Media Academy for Educators. Angel has presented workshops on media production in science education at the California STEAM Symposium, CUE, and to various school districts in the Bay Area. She has also presented workshops about implementing interdisciplinary project-based learning and culturally relevant science pedagogy at the California Partnership Academies: Educating for Careers Conference and Free Minds, Free People Conference. Previous to her current roles, Angel worked with Green Dot Public Schools in South Los Angeles and in the Oakland Unified School District as a high school life science educator, teacher leader, and instructional coach. She is passionate about the intersection of science, social justice, and uplifting youth voice.