Bonnie Belshe

Monta Vista High School (CA)

Bonnie Belshe is Social Studies Department Chair and teaches US history and AP US history at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, CA. She has an MA in education from the University of San Francisco and an MA in history from San Jose State University. Her research specialties are civil rights history and American women’s social history. She has been a three-time summer scholar for the National Endowment for the Humanities and was named the California History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in 2014. In 2017–2018, Belshe was named as one of six teacher fellows for Mount Vernon’s Lifeguard Teacher Fellowship.

Her research and lesson plans for Mount Vernon focus on incorporating 18th century women’s history into high school history classes. She currently holds a teacher support grant from the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. Belshe’s research will be on comparing first and second wave feminism for black and white women and she will write high school lesson plans based on her research with the library’s primary source materials. She has co-hosted several webinars for WGBH on using the PBS Learning Media resources and American Experience. Belshe is a member of the 2018-2019 Teacher Advisory Council for the National Humanities Center. When not teaching, she loves to read, travel, enjoy the beach, and finding the best snorkeling spots.