Searching out common ground on island far away

VICTORIA BARBER

November 21, 2008 at 3:20PM AKST

This month, Unalaska math and chemistry teacher Christopher Border will leave Bunson burners, algebraic formulas, and the Bering Sea behind to travel to the sunny Southern Hemisphere from Nov. 22 to Dec. 6.

It’s not for vacation, however. Border is participating in an environmental study tour to the Galapagos Islands, an archipelago of volcanic islands in Ecuador, as part of the Toyota International Teacher Program. Border was one of only 30 teachers out of 1,000 applicants from throughout the U.S. to be selected for the program.

“It’s a great honor,” said Border. “It’s a great thing to be able to do, and also communicates to students that learning is a life-long opportunity.”

Border has taught at Unalaska High School for the past eight years. He said that he is always looking for opportunities for education and travel, but looks at the chance to tour the Galapagos as especially exciting.

“It was a particularly interesting opportunity, because I saw so many parallels between the Galapagos Islands and our island,” Border said. “It’s a volcanic island in the Pacific, in natural surroundings, with concerns about keeping its natural beauty pristine.”

Border and other teachers in the program will first visit the Everglades National Park in Miami for an orientation and exploration of the Everglades biosphere, which is similar to that of the Galapagos Islands.

While on the Galapagos, they will be joined by local teachers on a three-day study cruise to the remote islands of Espanola, Floreana and Fernandina, as well as the main islands of Santa Cruz and San Cristobal.

They will observe environmental projects, exchange ideas with conservation specialists and community leaders and participate in activities about global environmental conservation and protection. To cap off the program, educators develop group projects for a high school open house on Santa Cruz Island.

Program manager Rhonda Glasscock said that the selection committee evaluated Border as an educator, environmentalist and international professional when weighing his application. They also looked for diversity of experience, locations and culture to put together “a pretty steller pool of teachers.”

“(The program) is about offering a professional development opportunity to these teachers that will hopefully take them to their next level, and generate new enthusiasm and new approaches for them,” Glasscock said.

Border said that, though the Galapagos Islands are far away, he hopes to find new insights into issues and problems that are close to home, such as how the island communities manage their recycling, or handle energy production and renewable power.

“It’s a very different place, sitting right on the equator, but at the same time there is a lot of common ground,” Border said.

Once he returns home, he hopes to use his experiences to enrich his curriculum, showing his math students how scientists use population modeling to estimate the number of seabirds and other species, and teaching his students about biodiversity. Border said he’d also like to give a slideshow and public talk about his experience once he returns.

Border said he’s also like to sample a local food while in Ecuador — guinea pig. “Maybe we’ll get some for Thanksgiving,” he said.

Victoria Barber can be reached at 907-348-2424 or 800-770-9830, ext. 424.