Johnny Vallo
Teaching Fellow, Environmental Issues and Human Ecology
About
Johnny Vallo
I grew up in a small Wisconsin town near the shore of Lake Michigan, spending most of my childhood playing tennis, biking, and hanging around the beach. My family wasn’t the outdoorsy type, and I didn’t experience the wilderness until the summer after my sophomore year of college when I went backpacking in Montana. After that I was hooked, returning to Montana and Idaho the next two summers. I spent one summer working on a wildland restoration team for Montana Conservation Corps, and the next as a wildland firefighter for the Forest Service. I found my curiosity and love for learning at the University of Wisconsin, where I graduated in 2023 with a B.S. in Geography, Environmental Studies, and English.
This past year, I worked as a full time substitute teacher and tennis coach at Monona Grove High School near Madison, WI. This experience made me realize how much I enjoy being in a school setting and want to further my career in teaching. I’m so excited to be at Chewonki, where my passions for the environment and learning can grow.
In my free time, I love surfing, biking (in all different forms), open water swimming, trail running, triathlons, reading, and seeking out the best coffee shops in the area.
Degrees
University of Wisconsin, B.S. in Geography, Environmental Studies, and English.
What Brought Me to Chewonki?
I’ve always been an avid reader, but I didn’t truly enjoy school until college. My sophomore year of college, I was living at home and taking classes virtually due to COVID. I took a class called Environmental History with Bill Cronon and it completely changed the way I saw both school and the world around me. Since taking that class, I haven’t been able to stop reading, learning, and thinking about my relationship to people and the natural world.
