Orientation Day #1: Planes, PowerPoint, and People
After three flights and sixteen hours of travel, I arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska on March 23 at 10:30 PM (1:30 AM in Oklahoma) for PolarTREC orientation and went straight to bed. When I woke up Sunday morning, my phone claimed it was -21 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the ground outside was covered with snow. Clearly, I am not in Oklahoma anymore!
So far, my trip to Alaska can best be described in three words: planes, PowerPoints, and people!
No one has ever accused teachers of being shy, and it didn’t take long for the room of strangers (including 15 PolarTREC teachers, a few PolarTREC alumni, and PolarTREC staff) to start buzzing with conversation and laughter. The day was filled with introductions, general information, and technology training with the promise of more to come.
I applied for the PolarTREC program knowing that I have very little knowledge about Polar Regions. My first day of orientation reinforced this, as I am surrounded by a host of brilliant science teachers and experts who know much more about this area than I do. It is a little daunting to feel like I have so much “catching up” to do, but I am excited to start the journey and to marinate myself in the wealth of knowledge that surrounds me.
At Jenks West Intermediate, we celebrate curiosity and encourage students to develop as lifelong learners by asking questions about the world around them. This summer, I will do just that as I travel more than four thousand miles to Toolik Field Station in Alaska to study the Arctic ground squirrel with researchers from the University of Alaska.
It’s not all work and no play, though. We ended the first day of orientation by venturing outside for a walk to a local Italian restaurant. Although the temperature was in the single digits, the walk in the snow didn’t feel too cold, although that might have been because I was wearing thermal underwear, several layers, snow boots, ski socks, a hat, a scarf, ski gloves, and a coat.
I am excited to see what tomorrow brings!
Bruce Taterka, Alicia Gillean, and Nell Kemp will be PolarTREC teachers at Toolik this summer.