GWTI is Coming to the West!
Mount Vernon is partnering with local organizations to create workshop training programs in your community.
Stay tuned for programs with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Oregon Historical Society, and Idaho State Historical Society to name a few. Official program dates and partners will be announced throughout 2025 and 2026.
GWTI 250 Programs Near You
Meet Our Regional Ambassadors
Bonnie Belshe
Lead Ambassador
Bonnie Belshe is Department Chair and teaches AP US History at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, CA and is a lecturer at San Jose State University. She has a MA in education from the University of San Francisco and a MA in history from San Jose State University. Bonnie was named California History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in 2014. She held a teacher support grant from the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University to compare first and second wave feminism for Black and white women. Bonnie was a member of the 2018-2019 Teacher Advisory Council for the National Humanities Center and the Teacher Advisory Group for National Council of History Education. In 2017-2018, Bonnie was named a fellow for Mount Vernon’s Lifeguard Teacher Fellowship and she has facilitated women’s history week at GWTI since 2020!
Kate Lewis
Kate Lewis is a Nationally-Board-Certified 2nd grade teacher from Vancouver, Washington. Kate has been teaching for 15 years, mostly as a reading intervention teacher, but manages to learn something new from her students each year! One of the highlights of her experience as a teacher was studying oracy (the art of listening and speaking) at School 21 in London, England in 2022. She implemented oracy teaching techniques into her curriculum to help both English-speaking and multilingual learners improve their communication skills. Kate attended GWTI at Mount Vernon in 2024 where she learned lots about the lives and living posterity of the enslaved community in George Washington’s World. Kate is very excited to share GWTI educator resources with other teachers to highlight the last 250 years of American History!
Lois MacMillan
Lois MacMillan is a Nationally Board-Certified teacher and James Madison Fellow in her thirty-third year of teaching and has taught grades in elementary, middle, and high school. Lois was named National Teacher of the Year by the Daughters of the American Revolution and Oregon History Teacher of the Year for her service to K-12 history education. Lois is a master teacher for both the Gilder Lehrman Institute and UVA’s John L. Nau Center for Civil War Studies. In 2018, she won the Jane Ortner Grammy’s National Teacher of the Year Award for her work incorporating music in the non-music classroom. In the fall of 2018, she took a sabbatical year to serve as the Senior Education Fellow for the Hamilton Education Program, where she facilitated the implementation of founding era curriculum. Today, Lois teaches history courses at Grants Pass High School in Oregon.
Shawnel Padilla
Shawnel Padilla is Mi’gmaq First Nations. She is a former classroom teacher turned school librarian in Alaska. Shawnel earned a BA in Political Science with a minor in History and MA in Education from the University of Alaska. She earned a library certification from Montana State University with a primary focus on Indigenous Perspectives in School Librarianship. Shawnel was a George Washington Teacher Institute Fellow in 2023 and is now a teacher facilitator. She is a curriculum creator and consultant with a focus on elementary social studies curriculum and Indigenous perspectives. In her free time, she travels around the United States exploring museums, historical sites, and hiking with family and friends.
Traci Carbon
Traci Carbon is beyond honored and excited to be a part of the GWTI 250 Ambassador program and meet each of you! She is the Educator Effectiveness Coordinator for the Humboldt County School District in Winnemucca, Nevada, a rural community 175 miles east of Reno. Traci is in her 30th year in education where she has spent 22 years in the classroom with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. Traci earned her National Board Certification as an Early Childhood Generalist and has since renewed it twice. She participated in GWTI at Mount Vernon in 2022 and loved every second! She has a 25-year-old son, who is, in her un-biased opinion, an incredible human being. Outside of the classroom, Traci loves to garden, quilt, spend time with family and friends, and hang out with the very best dog ever!
Mount Vernon Celebrates America's 250th Anniversary!
Check out all of Mount Vernon's resources as we prepare for America's 250th Anniversary
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