Although she’s the first full-time STEAM teacher in the lower school, Melissa Leopard originally joined the Tapestry faculty in 2006 as a 5-6th grade Humanities teacher. She is also the founder of Tinkering School Buffalo, a hands-on building program, and co-founder of Pop Up Park Buffalo, a grassroots program to increase learning through outdoor play. In a previous life, she served as curriculum director to several charter schools in the Bronx and Manhattan. Just before rejoining Tapestry, Melissa managed the Buffalo Museum of Science’s “Makerspace” and was a facilitator of learning with an emphasis on physics. She has an undergraduate degree in Cultural Studies from SUNY Buffalo, and a M.S. in Education from Medaille College. When she’s not doing STEAM experiments with Tapestry students, she’s spending time with her friends and family, exploring and having a bit of fun.