Well, it's been a minute since I wrote anything in this. Honestly, I don't really know if anyone reads it but it is a good place to get my thoughts out in the open. Biggest thing about this post - IF YOU WANT TO GO TO YNP, EMAIL ME!  I'm ALWAYS up for a trip!!

Many years have past since the last post and LOTS have changed. The "official" Yellowstone Teacher Project from Kennesaw State does not exist any longer. Funding cuts make it close to impossible for these experiential experiences to take place. However, I've found a way to continue going, growing, and sharing our nation's (and the world's) first national park. 

The last official KSU YTP trip I helped coordinate was the summer of 2017. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to return many more times, each with a new group of first timers!

2018 - Introduced two high school art teachers and a Physicians Assistant to the amazing views, animals, and people of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Spent time in and out of the park viewing wildlife.

2020 - Covid19 didn't slow us down. We were the first visitors to embark on a "Post-Pandemic Shutdown" excursion with my good friend, MacNeil Lyons from Yellowstone Insight. We helped him break back into the guiding scene after 100+ days of shutdown and it was MAGICAL. Animals everywhere, very few people, no big tour buses, and lots and lots of "firsts" for the other 6 people in my group.  Practice, Patience, Persistence, PAYS OFF - words from MacNeil that  I have come to live by when visiting with "first timers" to the park. 

2021 - Extra special group - my daughter's senior trip with 4 friends and another "teacher mom". These young adults have no idea how fortunate they were to see the specific animals they were able to see up close. Wolves, bears, elk, bighorn sheep...incredible amounts of wildlife. Even the high school graduates learned something whether they wanted to or not. THEY kept the questions coming and THAT is what teaching is about. Gosh it was AWESOME!!

2021 - Another larger group of first time adults experienced the fall with a winter twist in YNP. More teachers, and this time some husbands came as well. A good time was had by all and we left with 8 inches of snow on the ground from Bozeman!!  (YNP in the winter is an absolute blast, by the way, but this was not a full-blown winter trip. It came on quite suddenly on the last night of our trip.

2022 - Yay for nephews!  I was SO excited to be able to show 2 of my 4 nephews this awesome place.  The age differences were pretty significant (10 and almost 19) but they were both blown away at the splendor of this place. 

2022 (Autumn) - Took along some first-timers again...I LOVE showing this place off to folks who are not science teachers or who have no idea of the range of "things" they'll be seeing and experiencing. After all, when you are here, ALL of your senses will be used. LOL!

Until next time...Wander Often, Wonder Always!!
​Cheers!

Be patient with me - first time blogger.  Where does a person start telling someone about a trip that opens their eyes to so much?
In 2011, an email came across my computer.  For some reason I didn't delete it. The email was from a fellow teacher who was passing along the information about the KSU Yellowstone Teacher Project.  Attached was an informational flyer that piqued my interest.  After asking a fellow teacher (and friend) to apply with me as a "team", we sent in our application and waited.  Let me tell you, I think waiting for an answer about the trip was more stressful than waiting for a college acceptance letter. (Maybe not, but it's been over 20 years since those days and I think I've forgotten the anticipation levels!)Not being a super spontaneous person, applying to go on this trip was a huge deal for me.  Honestly, I didn't think that our application would be chosen.  When the email came in that we had been chosen to go on this trip, I was so excited that I screamed out loud in front of my class!  Yellowstone National Park had always been on my "to do" bucket list.  I like the outdoors and prefer mountains over beaches but I had never really given any thoughts to actually going.  In fact, I really didn't know much about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) at all.  I thought it would relate to my science and social studies content very well, but I had no idea the impact it would make on how I taught my students.A few months later, we boarded a plane bound for Montana and my eyes were opened to a world I'd never seen before.  This old teacher was still an eager student! Stay tuned for the next step in the journey!!! 

I am typing this on the way to the beach after this year's trip.  Truth be told, I would much rather be back in Yellowstone.  The beach has its selling points, but I am just not feeling it this year. We were so fortunate to see a wide variety of wildlife each day.  Staying in a different gateway community gave us more insight into the way of life for another group of folks.  It really was nice to see new faces and make new memories in a new area of the park.Maybe it's the amount of animals we saw this year.  Maybe it's the drastic weather changes (snow to heat) we experienced this trip.  Maybe it's the joy of the new friendships that were forged.  Or, maybe it is the fact that Yellowstone is a place that is forever tattooed on my heart that make me turn my eyes to mountains and valleys rather than sandy beaches and ocean waves.  I like the beach, but my real love lies MT, WY, and ID. 

Year three of my participation in this project has left me with the same giddy excitement that I had the very first year.  Each day closer to our departure makes me smile. Each email to our program director at the Yellowstone Association gives me goose bumps of anticipation.  I CANNOT WAIT! 

My students cannot wait either!  They ask questions about the amount of snowfall the GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) is getting each week in hopes that I will break concentration and strike up a conversation about YNP instead of a boring math topic.  Sneaky...but very smart at the same time! 

It's funny how you can bring the great outdoors and elements of Yellowstone into your classroom in almost every area of academics.  Math lessons include graphs about snowfall amounts or fire destruction and science lessons can range from chemical weathering to serotinous cones on lodgepole pines. Let's not forget that the process of writing/language arts can be taught through any and all of these wonderful topics!  This expedition is a plethora of information for any teacher who's in need of a spark to get your creative juices flowing again, that's for sure!  It's a win-win trip.  What more could you ask for as a student or a teacher - beautiful classroom, wonderful lessons, and a spark that lasts far longer than  the typical class period.  It is life long learning at its finest!!!

I feel the butterflies rising up in my stomach and as John Muir once said, "The mountains are calling, and I must go."  If only we left tomorrow...

So, making a long story a bit shorter, I have to tell you that this opportunity was a once in a life-time shot for me, a no brainer!  As a public school teacher, if you aren't independently wealthy, your favorite word is budget!  Being on a teacher's budget and having a family means that you don't always get to take educational trips with colleagues. 

When the chance from Kennesaw State University was made available everything changed.  I've seen different places in the world, but none so meaningful to my classroom as the great Yellowstone wilderness.  In the 19 years of teaching grades 5 - 8, I have been able to bring some aspects of the science and social studies into my classroom through life through experiences.  However, until the first trip to YNP, my experiences seemed to lack a little spark.  Was it because the places I'd been were boring?  Was it because there was not as much "spark" from me?  Honestly, it may be a combonation of the two.  As much as I've always loved teaching science, I don't think I really was excited about certain topics until now.  I mean, let's face it...teaching classification and DNA to 5th graders isn't always exciting.  BUT, when you through in pictures of bears and wolves in YNP (or anywhere) with real stories about how you actually saw the dished nose of a grizzly and could tell the shape of the ears on a black bear, students see your excitement and really start to get interested too.  I mean, really, how cool is it, that you can tell a student you have seen the hot springs where the study of DNA fingerprinting was born??? 

Being afforded this chance was something I will never be able to sufficiently thank KSU for.  Explaining how it's changed my thoughts, my teaching, and my overall look at the world and our place in it will never completely be understood.  It's a process that just keeps growing.  Whether it's something as small as recycling a few more items, or teaching the next generation about the democracy of decision and policy making  through winter use issues of the park, my views on the importance of being a good steward of public land is forever changed.