Instructor Biographies
Peter Gavin
Peter Gavin has taught grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in California and Vermont since 1985. In 1991 – 1992 Peter taught at a primary school in Belfast, Northern Ireland while on a Fulbright Teaching Exchange. Currently he teaches 8th grade English at Kent Middle School, where he has been happily employed since 1996. In 2001 he received a national teaching award from River of Words (riverofwords.org), an organization co-founded by former United States Poet Laureate and 2008 Pulitzer Award Winner for Poetry, Robert Hass. Peter loves being in the classroom, helping to mold life-long learners out of his students. He is a lover of film and believes every good movie starts with a well written and well conceived screenplay. Peter lives in San Rafael with his lovely wife, a fabulous four year-old English Springer Spaniel named Miles and three orange tabbies.
Jennifer Hirt
Jennifer Hirt has taught elementary art in the Akron (Ohio) Public Schools for four years before moving to California. Her specialties as an artist include printmaking, ceramics, and photography. She earned a BA in Art History and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from Case Western Reserve University. After a few years of being a nanny, she attended the University of San Francisco and received my credential in Special Education. Currently, she is in her second year of teaching in the Larkspur School District and fifth year teaching in California.
Kate McDougall
Kate McDougall has been teaching middle school since 1974, for the Novato Unified School District, in the areas of social studies, English, and theater. She has been teaching gifted learners for 16 years, and is now teacher liaison for the GATE program. She has taught for the Summer Odyssey since its early years. Currently, she teaches in the Education Department for Dominican University. When asked about teaching adolescents, she says, "Their willingness to try new ways to show what they know is what keeps me going. I love them for their exuberance."
Libby Hass Silvestri
Libby Hass Silvestri comes to Dominican's Summer Odyssey as a penguin alum from the credential program with 17 years of teaching experience. She holds two credentials, a single subject in English and a multiple subject credential. Having taught six years in the first and second grades, Silvestri currently teaches fourth grade at Lu Sutton Elementary School in Novato.
A Marin native, she attended St. Isabella's School, Marin Catholic High School, Saint Mary's College in Moraga, graduating with a major in English and a minor in Business.
She and her husband have three children, and being a GATE parent herself, has provided her with a heightened awareness of GATE student needs and parental perspectives. Her love of music comes in handy both in the classroom and on stage as Libby is a professional vocalist and musician.
Ron Pembleton
Ron Pembleton comes to the Summer Odyssey program from Kent Middle School, in Kentfield. He has been teaching middle school physical science for fourteen years.
His first year teaching was at Vandenburg Middle School, the west coast rocket base for the U.S. Air Force. Having witnessed several rocket launches on the base, Ron enjoys teaching rocketry to future astronauts and engineers. He has received numerous education innovator grants and awards over the years, including most recently
an "A+ for Energy" grant from BP Oil, which allowed Ron and his students to build Rube Goldberg simple machines using solar energy as a power source. He refers to teaching about rocket science as “a real blast”.
