Ms. Peg Keiner is a staple of GEMS Chicago and serves as our Lower School Director of Innovation and Technology. In this role, Ms. Keiner connects students and teachers to the experts and tools that spark curiosity and invite them to positively impact their communities. Ms. Keiner believes that “everyone has the power to be a creative problem solver if provided the invitation and scaffolded support to make a positive impact. The reciprocal act of listening and storytelling are at the heart of my practice as I seek to understand the needs of my community and opportunities for support. To unpack the complexity of our world, I strive to design experiences that spark curiosity, inspire connection, and amplify agency.” You can see Ms. Keiner putting this philosophy into action as she assists with most of the cool, innovative events and programming at GEMS, as well as when she lends her genuine listening ear to any questions or ideas that come from teachers and students. She is a believer in celebrating the start of new ideas and, through this practice, helps people avoid letting the pursuit of perfection get in the way of starting a new project. In fact, one of Ms. Keiner’s quintessential classroom activities is a “First Draft Festival,” where students are encouraged to “celebrate the start to fuel you to the finish.”

When I asked Ms. Keiner to describe her proudest teaching accomplishment, she described the 2018 Global Goals Design Challenge that she designed and hosted at GEMS. Rather than being proud of her own work in overseeing and developing the Challenge, she was very clear that the pride she feels comes from seeing students transferring the skills they developed in pitching ideas for global changes in 5th and 6th grade to the work they are doing now as leaders in their communities, proudly advocating for their current causes. Ms. Keiner uses this memory to challenge herself to continue to create opportunities for students to lead and make their voices heard.

Outside of her work at GEMS Chicago, Ms. Keiner works closely with National Geographic, Google Earth, Apple, the United Nations Chicago Chapter, and Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. When asked about the life experiences that add to her expertise as an educator, she says, “[her] desire to seek expertise outside of GEMS has solely been driven by the curiosity of my students and the desire to contribute to our IB transdisciplinary units of inquiry. My work as a National Geographic Explorer and Education Fellow taught [her] to be a better storyteller, researcher, global collaborator, and citizen scientist. I bring all of my grant funded and fellowship work into the classroom and design ways to include my students in the process. I hope they see me and remember they have the power to explore and make a positive impact.”

Of all of the interesting facts about Ms. Keiner, the fact that she has been to Antarctica as a National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Teacher Fellow is pretty remarkable. Ms. Keiner believes in fearlessly applying for every opportunity, and when your dream or idea doesn't exist, create it yourself. It is fitting, then, that Ms. Keiner’s motto is “Do it anyway.” Thanks for everything you do at GEMS Chicago and for giving us a living example of being a principled, courageous communicator and inquirer.