TEACHER V0LUNTEERS TIME IN EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE
By Danielle K. Lynch, Director of Community Relations and Community School

During the 2002 school year, Ms. Davida Nitka, Computer Teacher at Nixon School, received a fully paid fellowship through the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which sponsors Earthwatch Institute, an organization which promotes the sustainable conservation of natural resources and cultural heritage by creating partnerships among scientists, the general public, educators and businesses.  On the resulting expedition, Ms. Nitka was assigned to study the coastal ecology of the Bahamas.  Having thoroughly enjoyed her first expedition and not being able to apply for another fellowship for a year, Ms. Nitka elected to be a volunteer for Earthwatch Institute and to solely support her second expedition during this 2003 summer.  Her research this time was focused on Orcas (Killer Whales). 

Ms. Nitka provided some background to her most recent expedition… “Last year, resident Orca whales (Orcinas orca) in the southern Puget Sound experienced their seventh consecutive year of population decline. The levels of PCBs and other toxins found in the tissues of these whales are higher than those found in cetaceans from the most polluted waters in the world.  Half the salmon runs that the Orcas depend on are threatened with extinction.”

She went on to describe her daily chores… “All teams rotated between working on shore and patrolling in boats to look for Orca pods and to observe their behavior in and near Friday Harbor. Once the crew found a pod, we noted weather, location, other boats, and prey. We learned to photograph each Orca’s fin and markings and recorded its vocalizations. Meanwhile, the shore crew matched new photos with a catalogue of hundreds of individual whales seen previously.”

The information that Ms. Nitka has gained from her two expeditions is being brought back to the students of Roxbury via presentations and access to Ms. Nitka’s web site http://teacherweb.com/nj/nixonelementaryschool/nitka , which contains pictures and information regarding her projects.  Since Roxbury’s second and third grades have thematic units focusing on oceans and habitats, it is Ms. Nitka’s goal to share her Orca expedition with students and teachers in Nixon School’s second and third grades this year.  Additionally, Ms. Nitka plans on using her Smartboard to have her classes virtually visit the Puget Sound and other areas in the world where Orcas swim and to teach them how to ID Orcas, just as she did in the field.

Ms. Nitka plans on applying for another fellowship during the 2003-2004 school year.