Teacher Exchange Alumni Making a Difference in Conservation and Their Community
Across the United States, Fulbright Teachers are tackling issues in their backyards to develop students’ skills and perspectives that will help them succeed in the future. Educators in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Ohio are connecting their curricula to real-world problems such as pollution, deforestation, and marine ecosystems in order to motivate students to take action.
Teaching Students about their Local Environment
Jayme Margolin-Sneider, a science educator from Colorado, uses community-based projects to empower students to address real-world challenges. During her Fulbright, Jayme and her Vietnamese colleagues designed projects that engaged students in the local industry of tea making, building skills that would be directly relevant in their future careers.
Since returning to Colorado, Jayme has kept up her international connections and is focused on making connections between nations. Her American and Vietnamese students are currently collaborating through a unit on ecology, collecting and testing water samples to learn how its quality impacts different native species in their respective backyards.
Inspiring Future Generations through Marine Science
As part of the NOAA Teacher at Sea Program, Oktay Ince of Ohio sailed Lake Erie on the Thomas Jefferson to participate in a hydrographic survey. Oktay brought these opportunities back to his students by arranging a field trip for his students to visit the ship. He also used a NOAA Ocean Educator Grant to improve ocean literacy education in his community. This grant made it possible for students to do hands-on research and learn about protecting marine ecosystems as well as opportunities in marine science programs and future career possibilities.
Tree Planting in Massachusetts and Ghana
Alumni John Hodsdon of Massachusetts and Mohammed Shani Abdulai of Ghana first met when John visited Mohammed’s school during his Fulbright Teacher Exchange. Following this first meeting, the two established the Trees for Ghana project, engaging American and Ghanaian students in tree-planting and conservation efforts.
In Massachusetts, John raised funds with the support of 270 students and teachers. They also cleaned one of their own local parks, transforming part of it into an outdoor classroom and community garden. Mohammed and his students focused on planting fruit trees, combatting deforestation in their community and helping to support their local economy.
