Staff Spotlight Joy through connection: From backcountry canoeing to teacher professional learning

I’m here in the thick of the Canadian backcountry with ten adolescent girls and my one assistant trip guide. The skies are dark and loud with a severe thunderstorm, driving our group into the trees for lightning protocol. Each person sits on their lifejacket spaced out away from each other like tiny islands among the tall spruce and pine trees. Bodies hunch over to keep rain off their faces—cold, wet, and maybe a little scared. This is when homesickness sets in. I think through the steps of CPR and location of the satellite phone on repeat, mental scars from a past experience with lightning.

I call out to one of my campers who’s looking particularly low, “Emma, what is your favorite dinner meal?” She suddenly perks up and yells out, “Spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread!” I call out to another camper and ask them the same question. I see their body language begin to change. My assistant trip guide begins to sing a song that our Camp Wabun section group has been singing all summer while paddling Ontario’s cool lakes. In this moment, I see the culmination of our connection and community from our weeks together. The comfort in this storm comes from our authentic connection, our community.

When I taught biological and environmental sciences at State College Area High School, connection and community building were my guiding principles. I intentionally emphasized to my students the need and value of connection—with each other, me, and themselves. I relish the chance to bring this connection focus to the Initiative at Penn State. I join the Initiative as an Education Program Specialist to share my expertise and build authentic connections among communities of educators as they inquire into the difficult topics in their practice.

I grew up in the Bald Eagle Area School District, a rural district in central Pennsylvania with the lowest tax bracket in the county. Diversity in my school experience was very limited. For many years, I attended, and later guided for, Camp Wabun, a traditional-style canoe tripping camp, culminating in a six-week trip along rivers ending in Hudson or James Bay. The mission of Camp Wabun is for adolescents to develop their community-building, leadership, and self-confidence skills through backcountry canoe tripping as a small team.

My experiences with Camp Wabun encouraged me to venture beyond my comfort zone and seek connection with others, even outside the six weeks of our time together. When the chance came to become an exchange student to another country, I jumped at the opportunity. I represented my community as a Rotary International Youth Exchange student in Brazil during my junior year of high school. This experience took my worldview and blew it wide open. I connected with my Brazilian hosts, classmates, community, and incoming exchange students from dozens of other countries. Suddenly, I was part of a group with the greatest diversity I had ever known. I continued to seek out more international opportunities, studying in Australia in college and interning in Kenya after earning my B.S. These experiences instilled seeking connection with others and exploring new perspectives and worldviews as core values of my life, leading me to pursue public education, earn my teaching certificate, and now join the Initiative.

Working as a classroom teacher often reminded me of my time in the Canadian woods—it could be inspiring and powerful, but also isolating.

I often think about that singing during lightning protocol when facing personal and professional difficulties and challenges, and I remember how transformative community can be. Just knowing you’re not alone in the woods. I’ve channeled this lesson into advocacy for teachers, which is what brings me to the Initiative.

The Initiative’s professional learning communities provide the support to sustain educators’ work with difficult topics. I may not be among tall spruce and pine trees now, yet using the power of authentic connection and community, I continue to find the joy through the rain.