28 March, 2003
Welcome To Nome
Surprise blizzard like conditions greeted me as I
woke up this morning, affirm reminder that I am not in
Illinois anymore. High winds, bitter cold, heavy snow
and very limited visibility lasted much of the
morning. The Bering Sea lays a mere 55 yards from the
hotel and was not visible until around noon.
This provides the perfect opportunity to address
the ever popular question of why the Arctic. Probably
the simplest answer to that question can be summed up
by my second grade nature nut nephew who introduces me
as Uncle Dave, he is science.
Although I cannot live up to such a lofty title as
actually being science I can appreciate my nephew’s
enthusiasm and curiosity for what I do regarding
science. For it is in his eyes and the eyes of many of
my students that I see that wild and passionate hunger
for science that I still have.
I have what could be described as an unbridled
desire to learn about science and teach it to others,
more specifically biological, earth and environmental
sciences. Science was the only subject I seemed to do
well in. Science is constantly changing, it happens
everywhere all of the time, it involves and affects
nearly everything about us and keeping in tuned and
current provides an infinite exciting challenge.
As far back as I can remember this gravitational
pull towards learning and teaching science as provided
a variety of opportunities and placed me in a number
of memorable places and situations. Places that
invited research and scientific inquiry, places that
fostered imagination and investigation, places, as one
colleague stated, you gotta want to be.
I’ve discovered mind-boggling science while in
shoulder deep swamp water in the Florida Everglades,
found wonder and excitement in a New Jersey watershed
study during torrential rains, and even scientific
bewilderment in the blistering heat of an Arizona
desert and the damp mustiness of a Pennsylvania zinc
mine. I can even goes as far to say that I have found
scientifically puzzling questions at the bottom of a
Florida sinkhole, in a longleaf pine forest, within a
Pacific Ocean coral reef and even at the bottom of an
archaeological trench.
On each occasion and every situation I have learned
first hand a vast variety of scientific techniques,
research skills and data collection methods. The
networking and resources I have gained from nationally
recognized scientists have allowed me to provide to my
students some of the most current and cutting edge
scientific information available and use the same
equipment.
Why go to the Arctic? Because there is science
happening on that cold windy, ice encrusted, snow
covered, isolated island called Little Diomede and I
want to become a better teacher by experiencing it.
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