About
Employee Directory
Erin White
- Science Faculty
- Dyker Heights
- Middle School
“This is our work, to discover what we can give. Isn’t this the purpose of education, to learn the nature of your own gifts and how to use them for good in the world?”
– Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Erin White joined Poly’s Middle School Science Department in 2023. She loves to find ways to connect her students’ existing passions to learning about the natural world, and encourages her students to pursue their eclectic interests as, she reasons, ‘everything circles back to science.’ “I want to be able to give my students room to grow and discover their scientific passions.” Erin grew up on a farm in Connecticut and attended an agricultural secondary school, which allowed her to study botany, forestry, animal sciences, and veterinary tech. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Denison University in theater and geology, and had the opportunity to pursue both of these interests for five years as she traveled the globe as a theater technician on a cruise line.
“Observing diverse ecologies and anthropogenic impact on the world firsthand during my travels only fueled my passion for conservation and sharing scientific understanding,” she says. “I saw so many amazing places, and realized how much work we need to do to preserve and protect them.” Erin spent two years teaching at rural schools in Connecticut before moving to Brooklyn to pursue a Masters of Education in Earth Science from Columbia Teachers College.