At 3:35 pm on May 28th- our 13 educators from around the country gathered together at the Trade Winds Hotel to connect, collaborate, and create! It's hard to explain 'love at first sight' with strangers- but I felt that way. These crunchy-granola educators came in with smiles, handshakes, hugs, and hearts for learning. We had our first meal together and then began our evening with introductions, games, and reflection on "why we were here'.

Day 2 we hit the river. This was the first time in canoes for many of us. Were we prepared to paddle over 13 miles? Maybe not- but we did it. The sights along the river caused us to pause and reflect on the beauty of nature and how it can truly heal the soul. Ranger Bobbie provided several opportunities for us to stop, think, and create poetry together. We did have one capsizing moment and it might have been me- but I wouldn't have traded this for anything. When we reached our camp,  we packed up the boats, set up our tents, started a fire and continued our fellowship. We met Rosebud Lakota Tribal Elder, Phyllis Stone. She shared some stories about her people and how we as "humans' should love one another. We were thrilled and honored to have her in our presence. 

After our campfire conversations, we explored our musical side with some campfire singing and then attempted to create our glow stick art. We will let you tell us if we succeeded. We were excited to get ready for a well-deserved night of sleep in our tents.  Unfortunately, mother nature had other ideas. After reviewing the weather reports and analyzing the radar, we decided the thunderstorms, rains, wind, and tornado watch were a little scary so we headed back to the motel. Still fun though.

On Day 3, we pivoted once again and decided that we would write our content today because of the constant rain. These educators really understood the assignment. They dug deep to write meaning connections and immersions for their students and the Niobrara National Scenic River staff. We can't wait to share them with you. We finished up the evening with a windy hot dog roast and gave everyone the rest of the night off to warm up and get some rest. 

Tomorrow is all about waterfall photos and frolicking, phenology hikes, waterfall art class, horse fossil studies, bison tour, celebration cookout, and our NASA dark skies. We don't want to say goodbye yet but we know that this is truly just the beginning for all of us. 
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Educators from 35 states.
On site Rangers from 8 National Parks.
Additional Interpretive Educational Rangers from 10 National Parks.
Joining together to make a huge impact on teaching and learning in the US.
T-3 days!
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As we have shared, the idea of STEAM in the PARK has always been something that we have wanted to do. But just how did it start? Well it began on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on January 16, 2020. We had been invited to come and film the MLK Jr. Celebration with students from the DC area by our dear friend, Jen Rudnick. She is an outstanding park ranger at the National Mall and Memorial Parks. After the event we were talking about things and somehow the subject came up about hosting an event in the summer where educators from around the country would come for professional development. We even came up with the name, STEAM in the PARK. That conversation lasted about 30 minutes and then we headed home.

Next day, we phoned our friend, Susan Bowdoin and shared what had transpired. She was immediately intrigued and we began working on the details. Several ZOOM calls between Steve, Jen, Susan, and myself were scheduled and we were off to the races. We decided to intentionally invite educators from around the country to form this first STEAM in the PARK group. We created a FB page, got to know everyone, planned, dreamed, and more. Then Covid 19! Those two words scared us but we didn't stop planning and meeting with the team. 

On May 22, 2022, we finally pulled the plug on the event (which was scheduled for June 19-22, 2022.) We were all sad but more worried about what Covid was doing to our friends and families. We put STEAM in the PARK on the back burner, for a while. Fast forward to January 2021. We visited Acadia National Park to film one of our "National Parks Expedition Challenges". We met Ranger Kate and just like with Ranger Jen, we connected immediately. I started talking about STEAM in the PARK again with Steve and Susan. By the end of January, we had gotten permission from Acadia National Park to hold a summer retreat so we began planning again. This time- we were determined. We reached out on social media to form a new team of STEAM in the PARK campers who would travel to the Schoodic Institute, located at Acadia National Park, to solve the elusive and intrusive green crab problem. 

By March 1st- we had our team assembled, began ZOOMing every month and looking forward to STEAM in the PARK: Acadia. Well this time it worked and on July 16th, 32 educators from 15 states joined us for a magical 4 days. We learned so much and basically built the plane while we were flying it. After returning home, we knew that this was exactly how we should be spending our summers so we rested for a few days and began planning for STEAM in the PARK 2022.

While we are on the road this summer, we will be sharing daily updates within the community and on social media. Please follow us at #STEAMinthePARK to learn more. 

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Expeditions in Education is a 501c3 nonprofit organization providing innovative science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) training programs for educators, students, and families. Programs provide unique virtual and in person STEM opportunities connecting students and educators to national and global real-world issues. With a “STEM for all” vision, trainings include a variety of virtual classroom field trips for students and educators and in person onsite educator trainings in National Parks across the nation.
Goals and Program Impact
1. STEM for All
Engaging STEM activities make a difference in student learning; building critical thinking and the ability to innovate and preparing young learners to apply school-based information to real-world situations. Many schools lack the reserves for students and educators to access meaningful STEM challenges and professional development opportunities. Expeditions in Education provides virtual and in person STEM trainings, with most programs being offered free of charge.

• From 2018-2022, Expeditions in Education hosted 102 National Parks Expedition virtual field trips, which were viewed by thousands of classrooms across the nation, represented by 2.2 million students.
• On-demand STEM challenges reached more than 100,000 students in 2020 and over 200,000 students in 2021. STEM for ALL! 

​2. REAL WORLD Problem-Solving
Expeditions in Education creates short films in
National Parks across the country to bring the Park
alive for students, families, and educators. Each film
explores the Park and describes its history, place in
the world, and impact on its surroundings. National
Park sessions also include a STEM challenge
connected to one of the 17 United Nations
Sustainable Goals. The UN global goals, such as no
poverty, zero hunger, and education for all present
an opportunity for students and educators to develop
innovative solutions and change the world.
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3. RELATIONSHIPS and CAPACITY BUILDING
The “power up” of Expeditions in Education is in the opportunities for follow up and relationship building built into programs. Relationships between lead trainer Dacia Penley Jones (aka Dr. Drizzle) and educators, as well as relationships among educator cohort groups, are an integral part of Expeditions in Education programs. It is the ongoing conversations and emails, chats set up to touch base, and follow up activities for cohorts, which stretch single incident learning events into opportunities for long-term capacity building.