Pacific Northwest Region

Who are we?

The Pacific Northwest Region includes Teacher at Sea alumni from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

The goals for alumni regions are to build an understanding of physical and marine oceanography among alumni and their students, to establish strong relationships among alumni that emphasize collective participation of groups of teachers, and to develop relationships with NOAA scientists and broaden their connection to NOAA beyond the Teacher at Sea program.

Since the beginning of the Teacher at Sea Alumni Association, educators from this region have met in person in Seattle, WA in 2016, virtually in 2021, and in a virtual book club in 2021. You can learn more about these activities in the sections below.

  • A group of sixteen adults stands in front of a lake, posing for a picture.
  • A group of educators touring NOAA facilities and looking at buoys.
  • Realistic looking fish puppets or oven mitts displayed on a table
  • NOAA workshop with scale model of coastal area
  • A woman holds a narwhal tusk from a bone collection and is surrounded by people taking photographs.

Regional Meetings and Alumni Map

2021

Due to challenges and restrictions from the pandemic, in 2021, the Pacific Northwest Region Alumni were convened virtually on April 17th, 2021 for a 2.5 hour meeting in which alumni were able to reconnect, share stories about their Teacher at Sea experiences, share resources, and bond during a team-building virtual science museum scavenger hunt with Watson Adventures.

All PNW alumni attending the meeting received a copy of the book Salmon by Mark Kurlansky, and in the Fall of 2021, alumni from the region met again virtually for several book club discussions about the book. The goal of the book club was to create another opportunity for alumni to get to know each other and to share how they might use the regionally-specific content from the book in their classrooms.

  • Eighteen people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Sixteen people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Seventeen people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Five people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Ffour people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Four people participating in a Zoom meeting.
  • Five people participating in a Zoom meeting.

2016

NOAA’s Pacific Northwest Region Teacher at Sea Alumni (PNW TASA) Workshop was held on November 4-6, 2016 in Seattle, WA at NOAA’s Western Regional Center Sand Point Facility. Eighteen Teacher at Sea Alumni (TASA) from the region (WA, OR, WY, MT, AK, and ID) attended this three-day professional development workshop in order to strengthen oceanographic content knowledge, create relationships with NOAA scientists, gain knowledge about NOAA resources, and build an alumni network in their region.

Workshop Goals

  • The goals of the workshop are aligned with selected NOAA Teacher at Sea Program’s goals.
  • Increase teachers’ understanding of earth system science.
  • Build working relationships among teachers, emphasizing collective participation of groups of teachers.
  • Build relationships between NOAA scientists and teachers in the Pacific Northwest region.
  • Use NOAA data and resources in classroom activities.
  • Use NOAA-related career information in classroom activities, when mentoring students and when working with colleagues.

Read the full workshop report here.

Pacific Northwest Region Meeting Video, 2016

Pacific Northwest Alumni Spotlights