Nikole Brugnoli Sheaffer

Nikole Brugnoli Sheaffer is a writer, a creator, a strategist, a collaborator, a mother, an artist, and an educator. Nikole earned her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Allegheny College, and has had a variety of career experiences around building systems in the non profit, corporate, and education sectors. She worked at Conservation Consultants, Inc., encouraging “green” changes in Pittsburgh neighborhoods and developing environmental education programs for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. In the corporate world, building her understanding of business and environmental communications, Nikole provided marketing, branding, corporate communications and crisis management at the firms of Ketchum and Edelman for clients across sectors. Ultimately realizing her calling was in the classroom, Nikole enrolled in the University of Maryland and received an elementary teaching certificate and a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. She served as a fourth grade teacher in the Montgomery County (MD) Public School System before moving back to Pittsburgh and joining the Environmental Charter School as the Environmental Science Specialist. She received her principal certification from Gannon University and was promoted in 2011 to the position of Director of Academics. In her current position as Chief Innovation and Outreach Officer at the Environmental Charter School, Nikole acts as an educational designer and systems architect, and takes on the challenge of pushing opportunities for innovative teaching and learning to the front and center of educational reform conversations in the city of Pittsburgh. She has worked alongside green professionals to design, advocate, and implement high performing, green, and healthy schools for students and teachers while working holistically to transform school cultures into ecoliterate communities of learners and doers.