Igniting Your Personal and Professional Growth

Describe one or two, specific learning experiences from your fellowship. In words, show us this experience and explain why it was powerful.

I've learned that the only way that we can conserve wild life and wild places is really by going out and talking to the people who call those spaces home. Its all about talking to the experts and creating a global family investing in seeing these places, plants and animals survive. I've learned how to be more of a global citizen myself. Just by saying YES to unexpected opportunities during my trip I learned so much more than I originally set out to.

What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn professionally?

I learned that I am able to handle a lot more than I thought, mentally, emotionally, physically... travel is uncomfortable by nature. A month of travel on a continent where there are LITERALLY hundreds of languages being spoken around you can be isolating if you don't learn to embrace it. Professionally I created partnerships and ignited new ideas for my teaching that I hadn't intended. This was as science-driven fellowship and I learned new things to teach in my engineering class.

What were some unplanned or unexpected experiences or outcomes of your fellowship? Or, how did the fellowship you crafted differ from the actual learning experience?

SO MUCH. COVID made me have to think on my feet and change a lot of my original plans. Most schools in Zambia were shut down for a year before I went, and then they shut down during another wave of COVID the second week that I was in-country, so most of my Plan B's went out the window too. I had to change my focus to still make an impact and take back information that would help me to complete my fellowship goals. It was a challenge but I really benefited from being flexible.

Impacting Your Classroom, School and Community

Outline specific plans you have to implement your fellowship and reach your student goals.

I will be working with the zoo in my area to help teens compile research data that I collected while travelling. I will take what I learned during my biodiversity monitoring sessions to create templates using Survey 123 and the ARC GIS system that can be used at schools. Student will be able to monitor and improve the biodiversity on their own campuses. My goal is to create a District network conducts this monitoring, making school campuses hubs for wildlife instead of barren plots of land.

What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create one authentic learning experience for students? (e.g. hands-on learning, projects, community engagement)

The goal is to create student-driven interest pieces that can be displayed at the city's international airport (music, media, print, art, etc). Airports are hubs for illegal wildlife trafficking, and it is a great place to promote responsible travel and purchasing of goods. Everything in the global network start at home before you go anywhere.

How, specifically, will your fellowship extend beyond your classroom? (e.g. families, school-at-large, afterschool groups, surrounding community, colleagues, etc.)

I will present at several conferences (first in August 2021) about using the ARC GIS system and about my fellowship in general. Hopefully I can inspire more educators to apply and learn the way that I did. I am partnering with the local Zoo and also with several other science and STEM non-profits in the area in order to reach as many kids as possible, not just high school students (my teaching demographic).