Alumni stories
The educators behind the data.
Every Teacher at Sea voyage produces a classroom transformation. Browse the alumni making it happen — published stories from the TASAA network.
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NOAA Teacher at Sea Alumnus Sam Garson Wins $50,000 Teaching Prize
Sam Garson (TAS, 2024), a science and industrial technology teacher at Friday Harbor High School in Washington State, was named a winner of the 2025 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence after sailing aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B.
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Tiffany Risch Receives 2025 Rhode Island STEAM Educator Award
Tiffany Risch, who sailed aboard the NOAA Ship Delaware II in 2008, was named a 2025 Rhode Island STEAM Educator Award recipient — recognizing one outstanding educator at the elementary, middle, and high-school levels.
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Christopher Monsour Awarded 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year
Christopher Monsour, who sailed around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette in 2007, was named 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year. He's currently a high school science teacher at Columbian High School in Tiffin City Schools.
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Hooked on Felting: Anglerfish + STEAM Creativity with Stacey Klimkosky
In December 2024, TASAA hosted a virtual wool needle-felting workshop where participants built anglerfish from kits — inspired by Stacey Klimkosky's approach to bringing observational skills and STEAM into the classroom.
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Chasing Phytoplankton Blooms in the Southern Ocean with Bhavna Rawal
Bhavna Rawal (TAS, 2012), a Chemistry Instructor at Lonestar Community College CyFair in Houston, partnered with Dr. Kevin Arrigo from Stanford on a Polar STEAM project on the Australian-Antarctic Ridge phytoplankton bloom.
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From Puerto Rico to the Pacific: Michael Gutiérrez's Journey with NOAA
Michael Gutiérrez's journey with NOAA continues from Puerto Rico to the Pacific — bringing voyage experiences back into the classroom and the broader alumni network.
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From Science Fair to the Amazon: Oktay Ince's Mission to Inspire the Next Generation
Oktay Ince's journey from science-fair coordinator to Amazon-bound expedition leader — and how his Teacher at Sea voyage shapes how he prepares students for fieldwork.
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Dr. Ragupathy Kannan's iNaturalist Bioblitz
Dr. Ragupathy Kannan organized an iNaturalist Bioblitz drawing on his Teacher at Sea voyage — connecting his students to community-science data collection at scale.
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Spotlights pulled from teacheratseaalumni.org's published Alumni Spotlight column. Click any story to read the full article on the live site.
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