Val Monticue ’06

October 7, 2024

This would be for education and careers. I have been a physics teacher since 2008, National Board Certified since 2017, president of the Northern California / Nevada section of the American Association of Physics Teachers from 2016-2022 while leading early-career physics teacher workshops three times a year, moved to Seattle to help open a new school for twice-exceptional students in 2022, and this past year started a graduate program for an Ed.D. in Cognitive Diversity in Education. I was chosen to be an intern at the Strength Based Assessment Lab where we do interviews and learning assessments with 2e students to promote best practices in classrooms and homes to help students thrive, and I tell you what going to Mudd has definitely prepared me to work with these kiddos in so very many ways.

I also went to the South Pole as a telescope engineer back in 2015, largely because of the clinic projects I did, but I didn’t realize this class notes was a thing or that I should do more than tell Prof. Little about it. Happy to talk more about that if you’re interested. I just gave three talks about this to high school astronomy class and a women in STEM club in Portland last week, so it’s fresh.

Also also, I do historical jousting on horseback now. That’s a thing I learned and do in real life.

I have pictures of the jousting and the South Pole. Don’t really know how to put “16 years of working with mini-Mudders” in a photo. I give consent for this to be published, but we might want to do some sort of editing on my nonsense before it gets published anywhere.

We love hearing about your professional and personal milestones, and the notes are a great way to keep up with friends and classmates and foster connection.

Submit the class notes form to share your life updates. All items submitted appear online in their entirety, however, may be subject to editing. Submitted notes will also be reviewed for publication in Mudd Magazine (fall/winter–January or spring/summer–August) and in academic department e-newsletters, and are subject to editing, including for grammar and space availability. If submitting a photo, high-resolution (file size at least 1 MB) is best so that it reproduces well in the print magazine.

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