Randa Flinn - 2010 Fellow

Northeast HS, Oakland Park, FL

District: Broward School District
Grades: 9-12
700 NE 56th Street
Oakland Park, FL 33334

Randa Flinn has taught for 29 years, and continues to enjoy providing students with opportunities to experience science through research. She credits nature as her first science teacher, and finds it as an important tool to get students interested in their planet. As many of her students come from an urban environment, Flinn gets students involved in gardening, hiking, snorkeling, birding, and observing nature in order to inspire students to major in the sciences. Flinn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Biology. She and her husband Doug have two daughters, age 23 and 30. Her hobbies include cooking, hiking, snorkeling, and birding, and she is passionate about people, nature, cultures and kindness.

Northeast High School is a Title 1 school, where 60% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Flinn’s research program once consisted of students performing research during lunch or in the back of her classroom while other classes were taking place. Since becoming a Society for Science & the Public Fellow, Flinn’s program is thriving, and she has been given an official research course, now in its second year. Flinn’s students have been selected to speak at the Junior Science and Engineering Symposium at the University of Florida, and this year, every student who entered the Regional Science Fair placed either First or Second. Her students also compete in the Toshiba Exploravision contest, she hosts a CyberPatriot team that tied for first place in the state of Florida, and her class received an MIT InvenTeam Grant for a new invention- a water filtration station for emergency relief after natural disasters. Her program has established sustainable relationships with Florida Atlantic University, University of Florida, several local machine shops, and the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs. In the upcoming school year, Flinn plans to support one of her students, a Bezos Scholar, in implementing her idea for a community Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) festival.