Last August, fresh from a trip to the beautiful state of Alaska, I sat at my desk at work, pouring through the pile of e-mail in my "in-box". As I read and deleted numerous messages, I came across one e-mail that described a project that really caught my eye. It was a project called PolarTREC, in which teachers join researchers in arctic and Antarctic field studies. The program sounded great, so I went ahead and applied, figuring "what have I got to lose?" A few months later, I received a call from the PolarTREC staff, asking whether I'd be interested in interviewing for a seabird research project in the Bering Sea. I nearly dropped the phone! The interview went well, the project seemed fascinating and the scientists sounded like great people to work with. When I was offered the spot as a PolarTREC teacher, I couldn't have been more thrilled.
As a birder and naturalist, the project would place me in the midst of millions of seabirds that come to the Pribilof Islands to nest and raise their young. These islands also are an important breeding area for the northern fur seal, a species that was once hunted nearly to extinction. As a teacher of environmental education, I want to help my students to understand that they too have a connection to the arctic and that the individual actions that they take affect health of the planet overall.
One friend in particular encouraged and inspired me to apply for this program and followed along with me on my quest to become a PolarTREC teacher. My friend, Tom Henderson had visited all seven continents of the world and was a vivid storyteller of all of his travels. Although a retired as a biology teacher, Tom never lost his gift or enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge of the natural world and was a teacher to young and old, whether on a hike along the Patuxent River or on his farm in Upper Marlboro Maryland. Sadly, Tom recently lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and will be sorely missed by so many of us in southern Maryland. On my last visit with Tom, I was able to let him know that I was selected for the Bering Sea Seabird Ecology Project and his face lit up with delight at the news. I am dedicating this journal and the pages that will follow to my good friend, who will be deeply missed on this expedition to the Bering Sea.
Tom Harten nd Tom Henderson (right) near the Patuxent River in Upper Marlboro, Maryland