Bill Schmoker student taught at Centennial Middle School in 1992 and never left. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Earth Science Education from the University of Northern Colorado and a master’s degree in Secondary Science Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado. Throughout his career teaching Earth and Life Science at Centennial he has held many building and district-level leadership positions, including membership on the professional development, technology & climate committees, district curriculum council, middle school task force, science materials adoption committee, HB 191 assessment committee, and decision-making team member & chair. Bill was an Impact on Education Awards finalist and an instructor for two Korean earth systems education summer workshops. Beyond his students Bill has worked with numerous practicum and student teachers, has presented at the Colorado Science Conference and National Science Teachers Association national convention in December of 2013. He chaperoned Centennial students on a Costa Rican Spanish & Nature Tour. He has twice been selected for PolarTREC expeditions. In 2015 he sailed aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy to the geographic North Pole on the 9-week US Arctic GEOTRACES cruise. In 2010 he spent 5 weeks in the Arctic Ocean aboard the Healy participating in the US/Canadian Extended Continental Shelf Survey. On both cruises he blogged daily from the ship, developed oceanographic curriculum, and served as a research assistant. Bill is also active with PolarTREC by giving public presentations, as a teacher training instructor, and by serving on the 2012 cadre selection committee. Bill was equally excited and honored to be chosen as a 2013 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, for which he traveled to Iceland and Greenland aboard the National Geographic Explorer to work with guests and young explorers on the importance of geographic and climate education.

Additionally, Bill is known in the birding community as a leading digital photographer of birds. Since 2001 he has built a collection of digital bird photos documenting over 640 species of North American birds. A member of the Leica Birding Team, his photography has appeared in international nature publications, books, newspapers, interpretive signs, web pages, advertisements, corporate logos, and as references for art works. Also a published writer, Bill wrote a chapter for Good Birders Don't Wear White, was a Colorado/Wyoming regional editor for North American Birds and wrote the Geared for Birding column in Winging It (the American Birding Association’s newsletter.) Mr. Schmoker has served on the Colorado Bird Records Committee and as a regional reviewer for eBird, and stays in demand as a popular birding trip leader, speaker, and workshop instructor. Bill is very involved with the American Birding Association, serving as an instructor for their young birder camps, judging the photo module of the Young Birder of the Year Program, instructing for their Institute for Field Ornithology, and leading workshops and trips at ABA conventions and conferences. Other bird-related experiences of Bill’s include conducting fieldwork for Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and serving as president of Colorado Field Ornithologists.​