#NathGeo: The Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, Part I - How it Started

I'm sure I'm not alone when I share my love of National Geographic. I've watched their documentaries on PBS all my life. My favorite is In the Shadow of Vesuvius, about the people who died due to the eruption of the volcano in 79 CE and about the ones who still live near the deadly mountain today. It tells the story of physical anthropologist Sara Bisel who studied the bones of the residents of ancient Herculaneum. Unlike the residents of ancient Pompeii who had many hours to escape the eruption, Herculaneans died violently and quickly of thermal shock, a heat so hot that their brains probably evaporated. But I digress.

I love watching their documentaries. I can hear the theme song right now. And I still subscribe to the hard copy of the magazine that comes once a month with its yellow-bordered cover. It nearly always contains a story about classical archaeology. Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society represents that spirit of adventure and discovery that so many teachers have.

That's why the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship exists. Every year, National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions selects about 35 teachers from all over North America to participate in the learning experience of a lifetime. National Geographic sends these teachers on expeditions with Lindblad, a company that specializes in exploring natural wonders all over the world: Alaska, Antarctica, Polynesia, Australia, Egypt, Iceland, the Galapagos, etc. Inspired by these expeditions, the teacher fellows write lessons and give presentations for National Geographic's educational arm. Through the process, students get to ride along for the excitement with their teachers. 

I learned of this opportunity through a 2018 fellow alum, Donnie Piercey. Also the 2021 Kentucky State Teacher of the Year, Donnie journeyed to Antarctica on his expedition and excitedly told all of his TOY cohort about his experience with the program: the penguins, the ice, and his polar plunge. I was intrigued and decided to apply.

The application process was rigorous. I had to write three essays about how I collaborated with community partners, how I designed projects for my students, and how I encouraged an explorer mindset. I also had to make a 2.5 minute video about myself. I decided to talk about how 4th-grade me had been denied the dream of becoming a paleontologist due to my mother telling me that "they had found all the dinosaurs already." You can see it here. (Apologies to my mom, but it's just a great story.)

I also had to choose dates that would work for me to take off 2 weeks in the next school year - these included the one month I had off this summer and other 1-week school vacations that would not incur the "wrath" of my principal. (Not really, she's totally supportive, but with a continued lack of substitute teachers in my school district, teachers being out near holidays is a hard situation for schools.) The tricky part about picking dates was that they didn't correspond to the destinations we chose. So...I hoped they would, but I didn't know.

I also had to list my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices of location to travel to. I chose an expedition called Ancient Isles: A Circumnavigation of the British Isles, Passage through Egypt, Exploring Alaska's Coastal Wilderness, and A Circumnavigation of Iceland. Since part of the program involves me writing lessons from my experience, I figured that I could connect each of those choices in some way to what I do in my classroom.

I turned everything in in December, and then the waiting started. I had read that those who were selected would receive a live phone call from a National Geographic or Lindblad employee sometime in February. February was almost over, and I had given up hope when on a random afternoon at 2:30 PM during dismissal time at my school, I got a phone call from New Jersey. The caller identified herself as someone calling from National Geographic to inform me that I had been chosen as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. As bells were ringing in the cavernous hallway and students were flooding by, I contained my excitement as she told me that I would be on the British Isles trip in early June and that I would need to go to Washington, DC, for a fellow workshop in April. I was speechless.

When I got home from work, I told my husband David first. "You suck," he said. "And congratulations, I'm so proud of you. But you really do suck." Cue the yellow rectangles.

I'll be sharing my experiences with the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship on my blog, and on my GTF Website. Join me!