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Biographical Information

Richard Benz is retired from Wickliffe High School where for 34 years he was a biology teacher and chairman of the science department. He is currently working with the Lake Metroparks as their science educational consultant and curriculum advisor. Rich works with Lake MetroParks at their new Environmental Learning Center. He works with the park system naturalists and the area schools to open the outdoors to the school children of Lake County as well as other Northeast Ohio counties. He was elected as a Trustee of the Ohio Academy of Science and has served in this capacity for the last twelve years. Rich is also an adjunct professor at Lake Erie College where he teaches a variety of professional development classes. He is an instructor and co-director of the Biology Institute at Exeter (Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire,) which he has taught at since 1997. In 2017 Rich was selected to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement from Kent State University. In 2007 Rich was inducted into the Wickliffe Schools Alumni Hall of Fame and in 2012 he was inducted into the Wickliffe Community Hall of Fame. His efforts to improve the science curriculum at his school helped him secure an Apple Crossroad II 1991-92 Computer Grant which he used to establish an integrated research computer network at Wickliffe High School. He is also a recipient of the 1990 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching for the state of Ohio, as well as a Disney American Teacher Award in Science. Keen to further his own knowledge through ongoing education and research, Benz also takes pride in his ability to communicate the excitement of discovery to his students and his excitement for teaching to his colleagues. He has taught teacher workshops and professional development classes in South Africa, Australia, Belize and in the Galapagos Islands.