I was born and grew up in North Tonawanda, NY, a small city midway between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, along the beautiful Niagara River.  As a      middle schooler, I was active in Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout, which was also my introduction to aquatics.  During high school I became very active in swimming, both in terms of safety, as a lifeguard and competition, as a competitive swimmer.  This interest in aquatics stays with me today and was in fact a means to my first full time job, as a Safety Service Specialist, for the American National Red Cross.

After graduating from North Tonawanda Senior High School, in 1966, I went on to receive a BA in Philosophy from the State University College at Buffalo then entered a masters program  in Health Education, at the University of Buffalo.  In 1976 I moved to Massachusetts to become the Executive Director of the Northern Middlesex Chapter of the American Red Cross.  During this time in Concord, MA, I met my wife Christine and we had our first child, Michael, in 1979.  Being that we both wanted to be full time parents, we moved to the Berkshires and ran a group home.  This two year assignment which began in 1980, continues as we were not able to move back after falling in love with the area.  Our second son John was born in 1983.

The quest for how to make a permanent living here was resolved when I first visited Monument Mountain Regional High School.  I had a great feeling the school, the students and the staff, and knew I wanted to be part of it.  After a year of subbing in the district, I was hired as the first Student Center Coordinator at Monument and later moved to Searles as a Science Teacher.

While at Searles I entered and completed another Masters Program, and received a MA in Education, from Cambridge College in 1997.  During this time I also began to take some computer training to overcome my phobia of technology.  Here we are today, two collegues and myself, recepients of one of the first round technology grants awarded from the Berkshire Hills Technology Fund.  Our goal to provide notes and opportunities in Science through our power point presentations and web site.
.

Biography for  Randall Koldys

Welcome to the Searles Middle School Web Page Sciecnce Project. My name is Randall Koldys and I have been teaching Middle School science at Searles for the last four years.Before that I taught science at the Southern Berkshire Regional School  for 15 years. I received my education from Westfield State College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

I have also coached basketball at the high school level for the last 19 years and for the last eight years I have coached the Boys Varsity at Monument Mountain Regional High School.   I am also involved in running the Prime Time Summer Hoop camp at Simon's Rock College as well as working the Ten Star Hoop camp in Bristol,  Rhode Island and Hoop Mountain in Northfield, Massachusetts.

I also enjoy playing golf, jogging (especially on the beach) and warm sunny days.    So what am I doing in the Berkshires? I was born and raised here and I  really do enjoy the "diversity" of our seasons.

Teaching the Middle School is a tremendous challege.   Our job as teachers is not only to get our students to learn our content but to establish a foundation for them become better people and to make good life decisions.    We have a great deal of influence on our students because this is an important time in their lives.     This is why I have enjoyed my time teaching this age group.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, earning my degree at St. Francis College.   I then attended several other institutions including Hunter College, St. Johns University, North Adams State College and a whole host of other schools.    My teaching career began in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, where I taught for 2 years before coming to Searles Middle School here in the Berkshires.

My interest in science can be described as varied and wide.   I have a small observatory in my backyard where I continue my activities as an amateur astronomer.   I am also an amateur radio operator, holding an extra class license with the call sign KW2D.   In my classroom there is an operating amateur radio station where students study to learn radio theory and law to earn their own ham radio licenses. In order to ëtalk to the world.î

I have now been in the classroom extolling the virtues of science to middle school students for over 30 years and still enjoying the student-teacher give and take.   It is very satisfying to me to see a student come to grips with their own growing up and maturing as well as some difficult science concepts.       I still think science is fun to learn and to teach.   Searles is the place to do both.