Upper School science teacher Chrissy Orangio began her first year at Menlo this fall, teaching biology and environmental science. In addition to her teaching roles, Orangio is also the new Director of Sustainability.

“I have been working with Flik to create more sustainable lunch packaging to reduce waste on campus,” Orangio said. “My environmental science class is working on ways to incentivize and educate students around where their Flik lunch waste should go and why it’s important to put food waste in the right bins. Additionally, I am working on creating long term sustainability goals for Menlo.”

In a Zoom interview, Orangio expressed her enthusiasm about joining the Menlo community. “The students have been welcoming and made it fun for me,” she said. “I’m excited to be a part of the Menlo community, and I look forward to working with students in a leadership capacity and in the classroom.”

Orangio spent her childhood in Atlanta. “In school, my favorite subjects were science and Spanish,” she said. After graduating from high school, Orangio got her masters in environmental science and lived in Ecuador and Nicaragua for two years, which reflected her passions for science and Spanish.

Orangio has worked in education for 10 years and has been teaching in the classroom for the last five years. “I decided to make the shift from outdoor ed[ucation] to the classroom because I loved seeing the impact that students can have and wanted to spend more time with a smaller group of students,” she said. “It is so amazing to see students make connections between what they are learning in the classroom and the real world.”

Prior to teaching at Menlo, Orangio worked at Miramonte High School. In her free time, she enjoys playing guitar, camping, traveling back to the South to see her family, baking and spending time with her new adopted puppy, a Siberian Husky German Shepherd mix named Kodiak.