Meet the President
Mark K. Gardner
Mark Gardner is a Rhode Island educator and public historian. He has been teaching social studies and history for the Chariho School District since 1988. He is also the historian at the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society, a state coordinator for Rhode Island Model Legislature and is the president of the Rhode Island Council for the Social Studies. Mr. Gardner earned his MA from Rhode Island College in 2012 with his thesis, “As Publick As Possible: Democratic Localism and Political Economy in a Rhode Island Town Government, 1760-1820.” Born and raised in Charlestown, Rhode Island, he currently lives in West Warwick with his daughter, her cat, and their small flock of unruly chickens.
Meet the Vice President
Louise A. Oliveira
Louise Oliveira was Chair of the History Department at Exeter-West Greenwich High School from 1990 until her retirement in 2015. She serves as a State Co-Coordinator of Rhode Island Model Legislature and she is a program advisor and docent and at Linden Place Museum in Bristol, RI.
Meet the Secretary
Lindsay Bedard
Lindsay Bedard is a social studies teacher at North Providence High School, and is the advisor to the North Providence Model Legislature program
Meet the Treasurer
Mike Nolan
Mike Nolan is the RICSS treasurer. He teaches History at Coventry High School and has been a long-time advisor of Model Legislature for the Coventry program.
Administrative Staff
Nicholas Barrow
Systems Administrator & Chief Media Consultant
Nicholas Barrow is an alumnus of the RICSS’s program, the Rhode Island Model Legislature (“RIML”) , where he volunteered to redesign their digital platform. Upon graduating high school and moving on to Georgetown University, Nicholas agreed to continue to provide website and technology services to RICSS, managing both the infrastructure for RICSS and RIML.