Hadley Hentschel
Hadley is a science teacher of twenty years at Roaring Fork High School. He grew up on the Front Range of Colorado enjoying the outdoors through family camping trips, Boy Scouts, and bike racing. He attended Colorado State University, earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Education and a minor in Sports Medicine. During his time in high school and college, he would spend most weekends adventuring by bike and foot on solo adventures and with a small group of friends. These adventures shaped a lot of Hadley’s inquisitiveness of the natural world, and ultimately has shaped his approach to teaching.
During his twenty years at Roaring Fork High School, Hadley has created a number of courses that center on learning about nature while outside of the traditional classroom. His first course was aimed at Newcomer science students and had them learning about the Roaring Fork watershed while participating in River Watch with the Roaring Fork Conservancy. This course aimed to expand the students’ background knowledge and experiences in the outdoors and was the impetus for Hadley’s master’s degree at Montana State University. Hadley also started the Sustainable Agricultural Biology program at RFHS, which has students learning about agricultural systems in the US, soil and plant sciences, and practical gardening and food production skills. In addition to these courses, Hadley teaches AP BIology and AP Environmental Science courses that are dual enrollment through Colorado Mountain College.
Over the years, Hadley has helped lead the RFHS outdoor adventure club, coached soccer and track, and currently mentors a group of 12 Latina science students who create hands-on science lessons that they teach to Crystal River Elementary students during early release Wednesdays. When not in the classroom, Hadley can be found adventuring throughout our valley and the mountain west on bike, skis, and foot. He enjoys introducing his wife and two sons, 13 and 15, to some of his favorite places in the valley, as well as adventures beyond our state, namely a year-long RV adventure around the eastern US his family took several years ago.
