Lead Teacher Ivis Mendez discovered her passion for teaching in her native Cuba, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Central University Marta Abreu of Las Villas in Santa Clara. Ivis also holds a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Preservation from the Northwest Biological Research Center in Mexico. In Cuba, Ivis worked with kindergarteners and older elementary school students for three years in community education programs seeking to increase their curiosity toward science and love for nature and at the Polytechnic Institute, Lazaro Cardenas del Rio. Ivis enters her second year at TBIS, where she works with students across grade levels in a number of capacities. Ivis believes in encouraging students to observe and ask questions – about the natural phenomena that surround us and about all aspects of the world we live in.