At the age of 22, Deborah Wrobel was a flight attendant smiling as she served pancakes and eggs for breakfast at 35,000 feet.  At age 33, she was still smiling while serving a much smaller portion of pancakes and eggs,  but had no idea that flying into Atlanta on September 11, 2001 would change her life in amazing ways.

Deborah had always enjoyed teaching.  As a camp counselor, ski instructor, pre-school volunteer and select soccer coach she always had the pieces in place to become a teacher, but never the catalyst.   September 11 became the catalyst and she never looked back. 

Deborah can now be seen at Woodside Elementary School in Bothell, WA where she has been technology specialist for over 700 students per week for 8 years.  Students love coming to Deborah, because she’s the resident “technology geek”and comes up with great learning activities that keep students wanting to come back to school. Students know they are expected to work hard and are rewarded with projects that integrate within their curriculum and beyond.  She is “in-touch”with the technology needs of grades K-5 and stays up-to-date with knowledge of current trends. )

Deborah has energy that some would say is pervasive.   She was awarded the school’s Teacher of the Year award in 2010, and has become a leader in her district’s technology cadre.  In 2008 and 2009 she was selected as one of 80 teachers to attend Discovery Education’s Summer Institute. Not only did she get to stand on the same ground as Mike Rowe, she learned amazing technology techniques, sites and resources from our nation’s leaders in technology integration.  Deborah doesn’t get complacent in her teaching, and is always reaching out for grants to help her low-income school benefit from the newest technology.  She has been awarded grants from Best Buy, Washington State OSPI for EETT peer coaching, Everett Public Schools Foundation and the school PTA.  She is also a co-recipient of the Ipad2 grant where teachers are part of the school district's effort to test implementation of mobile devices.  Deborah has presented at NCCE, teaches professional development courses, is the school webmaster, and go-to girl for school technology issues that arise.

Deborah is in her first year as a NCCE board member, and is honored, and thrilled, to represent elementary schools from the Northwest region.