Interview with Wendy Gorton 

Age: 25

Hometown: Anaheim, California, USA

What is your favorite food?

Life's rough for a picky vegetarian (friends and family compare my eating habits to the 10 year-olds I teach!) but I am slowly branching out into adventures for my palate! I'm looking forward to enjoying the local Arctic fair...even though I am a vegetarian, I'm quite alright with accepting other cultures' forms of food when I travel, so I am up for eating whatever we have on the expedition. I love fruits of all kinds, including absolutely any fruit smoothie or fro-yo creation, tostadas, salads, Cuban and Indian food and most everything Italian!

What kind of music do you like?

One glance at the ol' iPod will show you that I have eclectic musical tastes, and I'm a firm believer that any form of music can be pleasing depending on your mood. A dancing Wendy will most certainly enjoy electronic beats and progressive hip-hop, a Wendy grading papers loves independent rock, a relaxing Wendy loves Classical, long-road-trip Wendy loves audio books, folk music, and world music! I'm sloooowly learning the guitar and love drumming and making up crazy songs for every situation life hands me, and I can't wait to learn the musical interests of the Saami in Fennoscandia to add to my mental "playlist!"

Hobbies or interests.

Basically flip open any REI catalogue, and I enjoy whatever the clothing/equipment model is doing! I love mountain biking and enjoy racing with one, rock climbing and bouldering, white water rafting, kayaking, camping, stargazing, backpacking and hiking, surfing, swimming, skiing, snowboarding, photography (especially outdoors!), identifying flora and fauna in field guides, spelunking into unknown caves, being an amateur archaeologist, and generally just being outside. The great outdoors aside, I'm a voracious reader and writer, love to cartoon and illustrate, love animals (I currently have two kitties, and African water frog, a California King Snake, and a desert tortoise!). I also love going to the theatre for plays and musicals, any and every museum, traveling, have good conversations with friends, dancing, board games, playing with technological toys, making websites and movies, working with children, volunteering for causes I believe in-- Phew! See why it was so hard for me to choose a career path?

Favorite classes or subjects in school?

I'm a teacher-- I'm obligated to say all! =)

But seriously, one of the reasons I became a teacher is my passion for all subject areas. At our school, we teach everything-- P.E., art, music in addition to all of the academic disciplines-- and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love to creatively write and minored in it in college, so that is one subject that has always been one of my favorites. I also love art and as a lover of the outdoors, I enjoy all sciences and learning about the environment. I also get a kick out of learning about geography and the people of our past as well as our Earth in the future, and I love it when I can read and write about my favorite subjects. My faaaaavorite, though? Projects that have all of the subject wrapped inside!

Favorite childhood memories?

The most vivid memories I have involve the outdoors and my family-- we were ardent campers, and our family got into many-a fun debacle out on the road, such as the time my dad drove and wedged our truck betwixt two large boulders in the Anza-Borrego desert! I also remember spending long hours exploring my surroundings on two wheels-- chasing freedom on a bike--and inventing elaborate games with my sister. Part of the fun of being a teacher is that you vicariously relive childhood everyday, and it reminds me to never take life too seriously and how to use my imagination at every turn.

How did you choose your current career path?

All throughout school, I was fascinated by every subject-- subjectophile?--and could easily see myself as a filmmaker, an environmental biologist, a zoologist, an illustrator, a writer; I simply couldn't decide! Then, my freshman year, I volunteered for an aquarium educating young, at-risk kids about the Pacific Ocean and the perils facing it, and I realized I could combine my passions! Now as a teacher, I get to inspire students daily to pursue their passions while I infuse our classroom with everything that excites me in life-- environmental projects, music and the arts, video and technology projects--it was the perfect career for someone who loved every subject and working with children!

Who or what inspires you?

I'm inspired everyday by my students, who are so compassionate about others in need and question the world around them. I'm inspired by people who stand up for what they believe in and against injustices, even if it is not popular. I'm inspired by people who work hard to make the world a better place.

What advice do you have for the students of today?

The future is yours to be whatever you want to be! It is so paramount to hone that which you enjoy and share this talent with the world. Use school as a forum for discussion for big ideas and exploration-- don't worry about getting the right answer all the time! I spent a large majority of my schooling being too concerned with grades and the right answer that I didn't get to question and research as much as I would have liked. The world you'll enter as young adults will be rife with problems, so hone your critical thinking skills today. Be aware of your surroundings- don't succumb to the media and lose sight of your personal values and goals! Above all, try to look at the big picture and put yourself in others' shoes constantly-- it will help make the world a better place!

Why is it important to study the Arctic?

The Arctic is such a unique and special ecosystem, home to such an array of life and people, and perhaps most frightening is its current precarious position in our world. I think that the Arctic is a good indicator of the health of our Earth, and by studying it, we can learn more about being stewards of Earth and realize how our actions affect others miles and miles away from us.

How and when did you first become a dog musher?

This, excitingly, will be my first foray into mushing, and I can't wait for the challenge!

Why did you want to become a Teacher Explorer?

On a personal level, I thrive on adventure, on the unknown, and helping to save our environment. I love meeting new and different groups of people, of challenging myself physically and mentally, and learning first-hand about areas of the Earth I have never experienced! My previous expedition experiences through Earthwatch and NOAA ignited a fire within me to find as many ways of possible to bring authentic science into classrooms!

I seem to have this innate yearning to help fix our ailing environment and humanitarian crises, and I find that by finding real research expeditions with explorers and scientists who are getting to the bottom of some of our world's biggest problems and integrating this realness into the classroom is one of the most successful ways of engaging students in all disciplines-- it matters to them because what they are doing and studying is relevant and actually makes a difference.

Finally, under current regulations, science and social studies are often subjects that are curbed for math and reading, and these are my favorite subjects today! I want to eschew traditional bookwork in these subject areas and bring them to life with the real, current research happening in the field, and GoNorth! succeeds in this endeavor so well.

What do you hope students involved in GoNorth! will learn?

I hope all of the K-12 students following the GoNorth! expedition will take away a sense of adventure and exploration, knowing that the world, and universe, is a vast space with many areas still open to discovery. I want them to be inspired towards real scientific research and think to themselves, "Wow, I could do this!" and "Wow, what I'm studying in class is helping to solve problems in the world!" I think that by learning about the Saami culture in Fennoscandia, they will broaden their worldview and understand how the ways of different cultures are affected by their environment. Finally, I want them to realize that, even as children, what they do and say and study has real meaning and effect and that can be agents of change! I want the students following our expedition to be the future scientists, ethnographers, and explorers of tomorrow, and I think GoNorth! opens the door of possibility for all of this to happen.

Responsibilities on the trail

As the Teacher Explorer, I will be assisting with scientific and TEK data collection. I will also have the responsibility of daily camp and travel preparations.