Academics

Educator Profiles

Steve Russell

Special Education Transition Specialist
HS Academics
Cleveland, OH

My Bachelor of Science degree is in Industrial Technology and Psychology, and my Master of Arts degree is in Counseling and Guidance - both from the Ohio State University. I also have a Specialist in Education degree in Trade and Industrial Education from the University of Georgia. Before coming to Santa Fe Indian School, I taught both in the United States and overseas in Industrial Arts and Industrial Technology, Mechanical and Architectural Drafting, School-to-Work, Career Education, Psychology, and Sociology. I also completed vocational assessments for Special Education students.

At SFIS, I am the Special Education Transition Specialist and work with students in grades 7–12 on the development and implementation of a Transition Plan that is a part of their IEP (Individual Education Plan). The development of the Transition Plan includes Career Assessment Activities, Career Interest Inventories, and other related assessments to help students identify their individual career interests and explore the training and education required to work in the career or career field of their choice. I feel that we all have things to work on, lessons to learn, and incredible potential that is waiting to be developed. When I work with students, I observe what areas they are strongest in and what areas are challenging for them, and I do my best to get a sense of how they relate inwardly and outwardly to their environment. With these impressions I try to create an educational framework that will help students have the opportunity to learn and to foster the development of their potential in order to make positive choices in their lives.

One of my most memorable experiences at Santa Fe Indian School concerns the idea for building a new school. The Superintendent asked each of the Tribal Governors to place an offering from their communities in a piece of pottery to form a physical and spiritual foundation to set the intention and welcome creation to flow within it. This was very meaningful for me to know that they had done this as a collective process. This piece of pottery and the respective offerings were placed in the cafeteria and every day when we came to eat and pick up the sustenance from our food, we were also passing by the pottery that was a vessel holding the collective intention of the various tribal communities, their people, and their ancestors.