Speakers

DaVida Alston-Smith

K-12 Sales and Professional Development Manager, GCC

National Geographic Learning

DaVida Alston brings to National Geographic Learning over 25 years of experience as a transformational educator, leading both Districts and Schools in the United States and internationally. DaVida’s career as an educator spans across teaching positions as both an Elementary and Middle School Special Education Teacher, Teacher Leaderships roles, District Level Leadership positions, High School Vice Principal, and Leadership experiences in the UAE as Director of Elementary and Academic Vice Principal (K-12).​ Earning a Master’s Degree in Education and a Specialist in Educational Leadership, DaVida’s vast experiences include curriculum development, building capacity among teachers through research-based professional development, and producing positive outcomes for students through instructional practices based on student data, critical thinking, and building real-world application for students.

Ribhu Vohra

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Ribhu is a National Geographic Explorer and co-founder of WasteLess, based in India. He is passionate about education and dreams of a world without waste, where the concept of waste is only found in history books in schools. For the past 12 years, Ribhu has been searching for powerful educational experiences that can be scaled to reach many young minds. To date, the innovative materials developed by WasteLess have reached over 1.2 million students in 45,000 schools. Last year, the WasteLess team launched Sea Change, an innovative curriculum about the microplastic cycle funded by the National Geographic Society. This is the first curriculum of its kind and is focused on educating children from government schools with the latest science.