Champion Educator | Biography

Anna DiCenso is in her eighth year of teaching at Revere High School where she teaches biology and forensics. She is a 2017 graduate of Stonehill College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Secondary Education, and a 2020 graduate of Salem State University, where she earned her Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language. She has spent her entire teaching career so far in Revere where she received her PreK to grade 12 education to give back to her community who helped shape the teacher she is today. 

Anna’s passion for expanding access to authentic science labs was ignited in 2021 when she was first introduced to MassBioEd. In 2021, she worked closely with Whitney Hagins, MassBioEd’s Director of BioTeach Instruction, to begin implementing the BioTeach Curriculum at Revere High School. With the help of all the MassBioEd Instructors, biology teachers at Revere High School have been given access to conduct a variety of life science labs with their students. This includes the Algae Balls Photosynthesis Lab, Antibiotic Resistance Lab, Bacterial Transformation Lab, Burping Yeast Cellular Respiration Lab, Floating Disk Photosynthesis Lab, Molecular Rainbow Lab, BioScann HIV Drug Development activity and Pipetting Practice Activities. All of these labs require the use of various equipment, such as micropipettes, gel electrophoresis, incubators, water baths, and thermal cyclers, which our students would not have had access to without the help of MassBioEd. In 2023, Anna worked closely with Mrs. Hagins to expand the use of these equipment into her forensics class, which allowed her to implement more advanced labs with her students. 

Anna’s firm belief in students immersing themselves with hands-on experiences of the concepts they are learning drives her commitment to exposing students to authentic labs during their high school education. Looking ahead, she is excited to further enhance her biology and forensics curriculum with more advanced laboratory activities for her students to engage in. She is excited to share these opportunities with her coworkers for all Revere High School students to have access to.