Paige Teamey: Introduction and Excitement about Approaching Voyage, October 31, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Paige Teamey
Aboard NOAA Thomas Jefferson
October 31, 2011 – November 11, 2011

Greetings, my name is Paige Teamey and I will be sailing on NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson  as part of NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program.  I am a graduate of Wheaton College with a double major inPhysics and Environmental Science.  I am a native Oregonian, but have called Brooklyn, NY home for the last eight years.  I love the outdoors and have had many opportunities to explore upstate New York and observe a side of the east coast that is raw and beautiful.  I have a great love for being outside and spending as much time as I can with my family.

I have lived and taught high school earth science, anatomy and physiology, forensics, experimental design, and material science for the past seven years at Brooklyn Academy High School.  I deeply enjoyed the students I taught as well as the faculty and community that existed at  the school and in the neighborhood of Bed-Stuy.

I departed from Brooklyn Academy this year to follow a passion and help provide students at a younger age access to science and engineering with  Iridescent.   Iridescent is a non-profit science and engineering educational organization located in Hunts Point, NY  where our vision is to use science, technology and engineering to develop persistent curiosity and to show that knowledge is empowering.  Iridescent is a community-based educational outreach organization that supports student growth through lifelong mentorships and community sharing, development, and learning.

Hunts Point is located on a peninsula and is home to the largest food distribution site in the world as well as the largest fish market in the world outside of Japan.  Hunts Point receives enough food annually by ship to feed 30 million people in and around New York City.  Hunts Point is a tidal strait located between the Bronx River and the East River.  Each ship that  travels from their homeland bringing products to NYC relies on nautical charts in order to steer around shallow areas, especially at low tides (check out the current moon phase today).  On my voyage with NOAA, I will learn how to conduct seafloor mapping (hydrographic surveying) of Block Island in order to update and generate nautical maps.

95% of our oceans have yet to be explored!!!  Humans have only researched, taken data, and “observed” 5% of our Earth’s watery shores.  Gene Feldman an oceanographer and earth explorer stated it best by describing the ocean as a really a hard place to work in the following statement,

“In many ways, it’s easier to send a person to space than to the bottom of the ocean. The ocean is dark and cold. In space, you can see forever. Deep in the ocean, you can’t see much. Your light can’t shine very far.”

Life on land occurs in a very thin layer from just below the ground to the tops of our tallest trees  (about 1 mile or 20 blocks) .  In the ocean life occurs in every layer where some areas are more than seven miles deep (140 blocks).  NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is an amazing organization that has hundreds of scientists and engineers exploring and learning about our oceans everyday.  NOAA shines new light on our oceans unexplored worlds everyday.

For the students and families following my journey Shine your light!!  Be curious with a passion.  Keep your eyes open to the skies, below your feet, into the wind, with every step to school/work or while sitting in silence… question everything.  I look forward to bringing you answers and videos to any questions or any interests you have about my journey.  Click on the words when they are highlighted purple/blue in order to learn more.

You can follow my journey and adventures in this blog and daily ship position via the NOAA Ship Tracker.  Just click on the hyperlink, enter the ship tracker and select the Thomas Jefferson from the drop down menu on the right side of the screen.