The Rays Baseball Foundation has sponsored twenty four Earthwatch Teacher Fellows on expeditions over the past four years. The six annual fellows come from either Pinellas or Hillsborough counties in Florida and are selected through a highly competitive process, with more than sixty area teachers applying each year.
In addition to having the cost of their expeditions sponsored, the teachers also each receive a $2500 award for their schools to implement local conservation projects.
This year’s Fellows were presented with a check symbolizing that $15,000 amount during the pre-game ceremony, and honored by the crowd and by Foundation President Gary F. Goldring.
"By doing real science with top scientists, the teachers invigorate their own spirit of discovery and return to their classrooms fired up to share their enthusiasm with their students." said Adam Seidman, Fellowship Coordinator at Earthwatch.
Megan Higbee Yarborough, a teacher at Lanier Elementary in Tampa for the last four years, studied coastal ecology in the Bahamas this summer. "I have no doubt that my Earthwatch experience will inspire my students to do great things," she said. "From looking at photographs of wild flamingoes and green parrots, to seeing pictures of their teacher collecting data in the ocean, this fellowship will show my students that they are capable of reaching goals just like I have."
This year's Rays Baseball Foundation Earthwatch Fellows are pictured here, left to right:
- Mary Quartetti, St. Petersburg High; Shanon Meads, Clark Elementary; Heidi Doctor, Clark Elementary; Karen Stockton, Westgate Elementary; Cristina Hill, Azalea Middle School; Megan Higbee Yarborough, Lanier Elementary. (c) Kristen Kusek
Click here for more information all of Earthwatch’s opportunities for educators.