Schools Scene

RFH’s Christina Gauss: National Geographic Society Grosvenor Teacher Fellow

Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s (RFH’s) Christina Gauss has done it again.

The RFH Spanish teacher, advisor, mentor, avid community volunteer, 2020 RFH Educator of the Year and Monmouth County Teacher of the Year has been named a member of the 15th cohort of Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Society Grosvenor Teacher Fellows.

Gauss is one of 50 educators from 24 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and a first fellow from Puerto Rico. The group who will embark on expeditions around the world onboard Lindblad Expeditions’ state-of-the-art expedition vessels to enhance their geographic knowledge with hands-on, field-based experiences that they will bring back to their classrooms, communities, and professional networks.

Starting later this year, the 2023 fellows will begin their eight to 24-day expeditions aboard several Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic vessels: National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Endeavour II, National Geographic Orion, and National Geographic Venture, as well as the company’s two newest polar class vessels, National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution.

They will travel to destinations across six continents, including four regions new to the program in 2023, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, and Patagonia.

While on board, the fellows will experience landscapes, cultures, and wildlife endemic to some of the world’s most remote regions. They will be accompanied by Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic experts, including knowledgeable naturalists, undersea specialists, and National Geographic photographers.  

Gauss was selected from a competitive pool of applicants made up of K-12 educators from around the country and will personally travel to the Galápagos Islands in December. 

More about Christina Gauss …

Gauss earned degrees in Spanish and International Relations and Education from Bucknell, Millersville, and Rutgers universities, respectively. She began her teaching career in 1994 before eventually joining the RFH staff in 2000.  

At RFH, Gauss works in collaboration with her colleagues and supervisor, Seth Herman, to elevate the level of Spanish instruction and increase the cultural exposure of students in the World Language program.  Aside from being known as an innovative and caring educator, Gauss is an advisor to students and a mentor to her colleagues within and outside of the World Language Department. 

In addition to the honors mentioned above, Gauss was named the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese’s (AATSP) National Outstanding Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2017.  

Over the past three years, Gauss has become even more involved in leading professional development for educators in RFH, Monmouth County, and throughout the state.  

She is especially excited about this latest opportunity. “I can’t wait to continue to learn from the local experts and bring back my experiences to share with our students. I plan on developing a collection of interviews recorded in Spanish and am looking into developing an interdisciplinary project that would allow for an ‘immersive experience’ for all RFH students.”

RFH’s Christina Gauss

— Edited press release from RFH

— Photo/Alexandra Daley-Clark, Lindblad Expeditions