Local Teacher to Spend One Week Onboard EPA Research Vessel

One local teacher will join 14 of his colleagues for one week in July onboard a U.S. EPA research vessel on Lake Ontario.

Joseph Perry, a Regents Earth Science teacher at Palmyra-Macedon High School, is among the 15 educators from five Great Lakes states who will become scientists during the 2023 Lake Ontario Shipboard Science Workshop aboard the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) Research Vessel Lake Guardian.

This unique professional development workshop hosted by New York Sea Grant (NYSG) will take place July 6-12, 2023. The ship will depart from Rochester and make shore stops in Youngstown and Oswego.

Perry and teachers from six other New York-based schools, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin will learn alongside scientists from the U.S. EPA GLNPO, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Cornell University, and the Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC), including GLRC Director and preeminent harmful algal bloom researcher Gregory L. Boyer, Ph.D.

NYSG Great Lakes Literacy Specialist Nate Drag will guide the teachers in developing lesson plans and curricula to take back to their classrooms to inspire students. Among their activities, the group will take part in water sampling and be able to analyze the samples in onboard laboratories.

“This unique hands-on learning experience increases teachers’ understanding of the Great Lakes’ unparalleled value and fosters the creation of personalized teaching resources to spark student interest in the world’s largest surface freshwater system,” Drag said.

“I look forward to learning more about the Great Lakes and its ecosystem with other enthusiastic educators alongside respected researchers. After which, I will be able to transfer that experience into real-world lessons that will bring earth science alive for my students and that I can share with my colleagues across the region,” Perry said.