Category: Kimberly Lewis

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Kimberly Lewis, July 2, 2010

ETD July 2, 2010….in about 5 minutes!

Hi everyone,
Well we should be underway in the next 5-10 minutes and within the hour we should be taking our first samples! I say that with excitement and hopefully over the next 16 days my enthusiasm will be just as high!I will be working the nightshift (midnight to noon or for you 24 hour clock people and ship people 0000 to 1200 hrs). Bruce will be working the dayshift, 1200-2400 hrs.If I am not too tired and the IT checks out my laptop (for security reasons) I will post more later about my first day at sea!!

Anchor stations all go!

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Kimberly Lewis, July 1, 2010

NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis
NOAA Ship: Oregon II
July 1 -July  16 2010

Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2010

July 1, 2010 in port

Me in front of the Oregon II
Me in front of the Oregon II

Hey fans (LOL),

My official day 1 aboard the Oregon II is nice and relaxing, but that will soon change. Due to Hurricane Alex creating large waves out in the sea (21 feet yesterday and about 11 feet today) our captain has delayed our departure for July 2, 2010. That is fine with me as I have never been aboard this size of vessel for extended period of time, so large waves while sleeping can wait. We should have waves slowly declining once we depart.

Everyone on board is extremely nice, from the scientist, to crew, to officers. Bruce (TAS from NJ) and I have been exploring the ship to get our ‘bearings’. We have seen the wetlab, from where we understand will be our main location for the next 17 days, to the dry lab, chem lab, the lounge, the various heads, galley, and misc. workrooms. The captain showed us the Oregon II’s newest toy, which I agree is very cool. He can watch the weather, click on buoys in the gulf with weather and sea data, and many other options.

Although Bruce and I are relaxing today, the crew is busy preparing for our voyage.

You can see our current location by clicking here – Oregon II location.

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Kimberly Lewis, June 30, 2010

NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis
NOAA Ship: Oregon II
July 1 -July  16 2010

Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: Sunday, June 30, 2010

My Ship Awaits

Well I arrived in Houston safely under humid and rainy skies. The ride to Galveston was longer than I thought but Bruce, an environmental teacher from New Jersey, and I talked about where we taught, classes, and the excitement about our upcoming adventure. Normally there is one teacher per leg, but since our mission on the Oregon II went from 3 legs to 2 legs it changed things up a bit, including our new departure date.

Arriving on the ship tonight we noticed a sign on the door “Friday 7/2 shipping out 10:00 am”. The newly upgraded hurricane Alex has delayed our departure by one day, at least for now. This will give me time to explore the ship a little without waking the sleeping crew. This is a 24-hour workstation so it is very important that everyone is quiet in the halls. Speaking of quiet, I am turning in, in my next to the kitchen stateroom.

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Kimberly Lewis, June 14, 2010

NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis
NOAA Ship: Oregon II
July 1 -July  16 2010

Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: Sunday, June 14, 2010

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Have you heard about NOAA’s Teacher at Sea? I hadn’t heard of it until June 2009. How did I hear about it? That is a question that I am asked a lot about many of the projects that I do for professional growth and for classroom activities.

Spring 2009 I was asked to be on a Science Ohio Graduation Test Rangefinder Committee. Although it involved sitting in a secure room for 2 1/2 days reading sample test answers to design a rubric, I thought it would be fun to meet new people. One such person sitting next to me, Chris M. told me how he liked to travel too and he would prefer not to pay for travel. “How do you find those types of trips?” I asked. Then he told me about Teacher at Sea. I tucked that piece of information away (and on a notepad) to come back to it later.
December 2009 I started working on my Teacher at Sea application. (Deadlines are the end of December so bookmark the website now so you can apply for the 2011 missions!) I had travel plans for summer 2010 with Earth Expeditions, a program through Miami University (I will talk more about that one later) but I thought I would apply for TAS this year so that the following year I may have a better chance.
March 2010 I received notification that I was selected!!!!
This is a competitive application process so I put my Earth Expedition trip on hold to participate in the NOAA Teacher at Sea Program.