This is the second year that the Erin K. Johnson Memorial Fund has supported the Inspiring Girls Expeditions Summer Program (https://www.inspiringgirls.org/who-we-are). It was a challenging summer, but overall, the program was a success, despite having to move away from its in-person programming format. All expeditions were cancelled due to COVID, but staff offered online programming they called 'Expeditions@Home.' Inspiring Girls Expeditions is about getting girls away from devices and screens and into nature, so it was a ground breaking summer!. Before starting such an approach, applicants were asked if they would be even interested in something online, given the circumstances. They received overwhelming support for the idea. Many girls were hungry for any kind of inspiring experience, even if it looked really different than what they originally thought.
So Expeditions@Home was launched with two different levels of commitment -'Observe & Discover' was a 4-week seminar series with guest lecturers open to as many top applicants as interested (Approximately 40 were in attendance). A class called 'Explore & Connect' was also conducted, which was a deeper dive, and teams of 9 with 2 instructors (similar to our in-person ratios) met weekly for several hours for 6 weeks, and moved through an entire curriculum of content focused on 'exploring nature in their own home landscape' - whether that was a backyard, a park, a tree lining their street, or whatever was safely accessible to the participating girls.. This entailed doing semi-guided science and art activities together and then girls did more on their own time during the week. At the end of the 6 weeks, they even presented to a virtual public audience the findings of science experiments they did together (virtually) in small groups.
Surveys at the end of the program indicated that overall participants were very happy with the program and gained a lot from the experience. These participants have all since been invited to an online alumni network (on Mighty Networks) and those that are still within the age limits can re-apply in 2021, if they choose.
As part of delivering this content online, activity boxes were mailed out to each 'Explore & Connect' participant with some basic science and art supplies, and a field book that our long-time, local Fairbanks artist instructor put together at record speed. It captures a lot of our curriculum and educational philosophy.
Below are some photos of some of the students work from this past COVID summer.
"Artwork (or field guide activities) prepared by participants in Inspiring Girls Expeditions "Expeditions @ Home" summer 2021 online/remote programming"
Socially distanced classes. A student showing her field guide work with others via the internet.
Journal showing a participants field journal and her rendition of her online teammates.