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Eco-Mission
Since youth, I have been driven by a passion to improve the quality of life of humans and animals. While completing my undergraduate studies, I learned about the achievement and opportunity gaps occurring within low-income, urban schools. When I learned about these issues, I felt an immediate calling. I wanted to make a difference in these communities by providing quality and engaging education. During this time, I also began exploring conservation careers. I was drawn to the fields of education and conservation because through one or both of these fields, I knew I could positively impact people and animals.
After graduation, I worked as a marine mammal trainer in Hawaii. One of the main responsibilities of my position, was to bring guests into the water for an encounter with our dolphins. These interaction programs were some of my favorite parts of the day. I loved teaching people about these amazing creatures and providing them with a once in a life-time experience. My hope was that these encounters would create a connection between the guests and nature, inspiring conservation-minded decisions. Another responsibility of my position was to collect biological, behavioral, and health data. We would use these data to monitor and improve our dolphin’s health and care. We also shared these data to other animal care and research institutions. I became very interested in this research which led me to accept a position working on manatee research projects in Florida.
I thoroughly enjoyed my projects studying the behavioral ecology, distribution, habitat use, genetics, and population status of Florida manatees. It was here that I found there is a dissonance within societal values. Florida residents are proud of their resident manatees; however, human activities and economic aspirations place pressures on the species. This led me to understand there is a disconnection between scientific marine research and societal attitudes which stands as a barrier to the creation of actionable community strategies that proactively impact ocean and marine species conservation. In this position, I met some inspiring mentors who encouraged me to pursue an avenue to bridge this gap between research and communities. This realization brought me back full circle, to a moment where I saw my passions for education and conservation coming together once again.
At this time, I was presented with an amazing opportunity to join a teacher preparation and master’s degree program. I chose to enter the Denver Teacher Residency Program through Denver University because this program was designed specifically to prepare teachers to meet the needs of diverse students from low-income, urban schools. Upon graduation, I became a 2nd grade teacher at Sabin World Elementary School (Sabin), a low-income, urban school in Denver, Colorado. I have consciously and enthusiastically dedicated my teaching career to working in a low-income, urban school in order to provide these traditionally underserved communities with equitable access to quality education and experiences. Sabin is also an International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) School. The IB PYP is designed to use inquiry, transdisciplinary teaching methods to foster globally minded students through guiding students to inquire and act on local community issues as an avenue to make an impact on the larger, global community. I am strongly connected to the IB PYP program because the tenants of this program provide the ideal platform to connect students, parents, and teachers to environment and environmentally conscious decisions.
I quickly fell in love with teaching. I wanted to make sure however, that I continued to increase my capacity to educate and engage my community in actionable conservation through meaningful research. This is when I found and applied to the AIP program through Denver Zoo. I was attracted to this program because it focuses on using inquiry to foster community voice regional stewardship to positively impact global conservation issues. This program has allowed me to use my talent for teaching to communicate and engage my Colorado community with actionable scientific research.
My EcoLeader Projects
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Engaging and Educating 2nd and 3rd Graders with Water Conservation through a Leadership In Science Club
Nothing entered.
Category: Education and Awareness EcoLeader Projects
Form Status: Approved
Date Created: 12/11/2017 06:59 AM
My Certification Applications
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Engaging and Educating 2nd and 3rd Graders with Water Conservation through a Leadership In Science Club
http://www.nwfecoleaders.org/forms/item/67/566
Category: Certified Community EcoLeader Application
Form Status: Approved
Date Created: 12/11/2017 07:09 AM
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