A member of Vegas PBS Channel 10’s staff for more than 17 years, Jessica Russell’s efforts have helped expand the station’s childhood education initiatives. Jessica currently oversees all Vegas PBS children’s outreach programs and activities across Southern Nevada, including community events, after-school programs, and family engagement workshops focusing on the needs of the whole child: cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. She is currently managing a four-year Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grant to establish a collaborative of partners to work together to give children ages two to eight a stronger foundation in early science and literacy learning. She also worked in conjunction with Sesame Workshop and CPB to implement and research the effectiveness of educational technology use with struggling emergent readers.

Jessica earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and two master’s degrees in Technology and Literacy Education from UNLV. Her passion for literacy has taken her to places such as Shenzhen, China, where she was one of 15 teachers selected to teach readers/writers workshop and extracurricular activities at the Rainbow Bridge English Summer Camp. She was also selected to be a Southern Nevada Writing Project (SNWP) summer institute fellow, in which she collaborated with other educators to learn about best classroom practices related to the teaching of writing. She served as coordinator of the organization’s annual Summer Youth Writing Camp for five years.

In her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her “little sister” through Big Brothers and Big Sisters. She also enjoys hiking and swimming and she recently earned a 200-hour certification to teach yoga to youth and adults.