MEDIA CONTACT: Patty Disken‐Cahill Lindblad Expeditions 212‐261‐9081 [email protected]
WASHINGTON (April 2012)—Fourteen respected educators have been selected as this year’s National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellows. The fellowships are awarded to teachers who best demonstrate excellence in geography education. This is the sixth year of the Fellows program, established to honor former National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert M. Grosvenor’s lifetime commitment to geographic education.
Funding for the fellowships was donated in perpetuity to the National Geographic Society by Sven‐Olof Lindblad and Lindblad Expeditions to mark Grosvenor’s 75th birthday in 2006 and to honor his service in enhancing and improving geographic education across the United States. Additional support for the program is provided by Oracle and Google.
Each year, K‐12 educators from around the country are encouraged to apply for this one‐of‐a‐kind professional development opportunity. The object is to enhance their geographic learning through direct experience and to bring that knowledge back to their classrooms. The 2012 Fellows, who will be embarking this summer on a Lindblad Expeditions voyage to Arctic Svalbard, are:
‐Doug Andersen, a 9th‐grade world geography and human geography teacher at Oak Canyon Junior High School in Lindon, Utah, whose students learn hands‐on how to use geospatial technologies to answer questions about their environment. Andersen is co‐coordinator of the Utah Geographic Alliance.
‐Coleman Eaton III, a physics, biology and chemistry teacher at Lovejoy High School in Hampton, Ga., who plans to create a marine science class and a marine science club at his school to connect students to water sources and help them understand their impacts on water both locally and worldwide.
‐Harmony Hendrick, a 4th‐grade teacher at William H. Natcher Elementary School in Bowling Green, Ky., a seven‐year member of the Kentucky Geographic Alliance and co‐coordinator of Geography Awareness Week in Kentucky.
‐Katie Hoekzema, a 10‐year teaching veteran and 9th‐grade physical science and biology teacher at Milford High School in Milford, Ohio, who uses classroom projects to help inspire students to get outside and explore the world.
‐Kim Houtz, a biology, anatomy, physiology and forensic science teacher at Marysville High School in Marysville, Kan., who has helped develop science curriculum with Duke University, National Institutes of Health and BSCS.
‐Eileen Hynes is an elementary school social studies, language arts, science, math, art and outdoor experience teacher at The Lake and Park School in Seattle. Using her Pacific Northwest location as a backdrop for geography education, she takes her students on a field trip to map the salmon’s return to the Seattle area every fall.
‐Julia Koble, a 10th‐grade biology teacher at Minot High School in Minot, N.D., who strives to make science relevant for her students. A former North Dakota Teacher of the Year, Koble used recent record‐breaking flooding in Minot to demonstrate the importance of protecting our oceans and water sources.
‐Jared Larson, a biology teacher at McMinnville High School in McMinnville, Ore., who has created full‐day ecology and water field units for elementary school students and designs field trips in support of McMinnville Education Foundation’s goals for science enrichment activities.
‐JoAnn Moore, a biology teacher at Gig Harbor High School in Gig Harbor, Wash., who has developed field‐based high school courses that focus on stream and forest ecology as well as marine biology. She also spends her summers teaching field‐based continuing education courses for teachers and running a middle school marine science camp.
‐Julie Ryan, a biology teacher at Haddon Heights High School in Haddon Heights, N.J., who helped re‐ establish the New Jersey Geographic Education Alliance.
‐Emily Sherman, a life science and environmental science teacher at Scarborough High School in Scarborough, Maine, who works with the Schoodic Education and Research Center of Acadia National Park to involve her students in research on mercury contamination. She recently received a Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship for bringing biology case studies into the classroom.
‐Michael Sustin, an environmental chemistry and environmental science teacher at West Geauga High School in Chesterland, Ohio, who is a member of the Environmental Education Council of Ohio and the North American Association for Environmental Education and has developed a Summer Ecology Expedition program for his students.
‐Mike Trimble, a biological and environmental sciences teacher at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Ariz., who emphasizes hands‐on learning, taking students on research expeditions and offering wilderness survival training.
‐David Wood, an 8th‐grade environmental science teacher at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., who encourages his students to develop a personal set of environmental ethics and uses his school’s LEED platinum‐rated campus to illustrate green living standards.
The Fellows will travel this summer on an in‐depth exploration of Arctic Svalbard, within 600 miles of the North Pole, aboard the Lindblad Expeditions ship National Geographic Explorer. They will experience a landscape and wildlife that can only be seen in the Arctic, including the midnight sun and formidable glaciers as well as polar bears, walruses and whales seen nowhere else on Earth. Led by an expert Lindblad‐National Geographic team, the Fellows will gain a wealth of knowledge to develop activities for their classrooms and to share with professional colleagues. Prior to the expedition, the 2012 Grosvenor Teacher Fellows will travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in a workshop.
“This program recognizes exemplary educators for their commitment to improving geographic literacy and inspiring tomorrow’s leaders to be responsible caretakers of our planet,” said Sven‐Olof Lindblad, founder of Lindblad Expeditions. “We are delighted that these outstanding educators, who are so strongly committed to hands‐on geographic education, will journey to Arctic Svalbard with us.”
“The partnership with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic is an ideal fit of our two missions,” said John Fahey, chairman of the National Geographic Society and the National Geographic Education Foundation. “We believe in the value of educational travel, and Lindblad’s programs are the best. Fellows will have experiences they will never forget, which will surely prepare them to continue inspiring generations of young people.”
To learn more about this opportunity and to watch video of Grosvenor Teacher Fellows from previous years, visit http://www.expeditions.com/teachers. To become more involved in geography education, contact your State Geographic Alliance at http://www.ngsednet.org/community/about.cfm?community_id=94.
Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic
Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic have joined in a mission‐driven alliance to inspire people to explore and care about the planet. As pioneers of global exploration, the organizations work in tandem to produce innovative marine expedition programs and to promote conservation and sustainable tourism around the world, as well as to improve geographic education and geo‐literacy. The partnership’s educationally oriented voyages allow guests to interact with leading scientists, naturalists and researchers while discovering stunning natural environments, above and below the sea, through state‐of‐the‐art exploration tools. A joint philanthropic fund that supports science and conservation groups enables better understanding of the world’s remaining special places and fosters the dissemination of geographic knowledge around the globe. Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Education have also partnered to create the Grosvenor Teacher Fellow program, a field‐based professional development opportunity that recognizes educators for their commitment to geography education.
NOTE: Interviews with this year’s Grosvenor Teacher Fellows and photos are available. Arctic b‐roll packages will be available following the teachers’ voyages.
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