Standing at the bow of the research vessel, Lake Gurdian, was high school science teacher Adam Philpott. He braced for the Lake Erie summer storm, waves crashing around the vessel while he embraced his inner adventurer.
Philpott, who teaches at Pickerington North High School, was chosen from hundreds of applicants for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Would you say this is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s up there,” Philpott laughs. “That’s at the top.”
Not your average teacher
Philpott and his wife, Jen, live with their five children, all of whom go to Pickerington Local Schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from The Ohio State University before heading right back to get his master’s in science education.
“I wanted to do laboratory research and long story short, I just didn’t really like it that much,” says Philpott. “Once I got into it, I was in it for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, and was already looking for other things.”
Philpott has taught students for the past ten years, seven of which have been at Pickerington North. After trying out a few laboratory and office jobs, teaching felt like the right decision and he embraced the role without ever looking back.
Philpott teaches AP Environmental Science along with Earth and Space Science. Even though he’s no longer working fully in a laboratory, he enjoys the experience of being a science educator.
A dream come true
Five years ago, Philpott attended a workshop at Stone Lab which is hosted by Ohio State. During the workshop, he was told about the Shipboard Science Workshop aboard the US EPA’s Lake Gurdian.
Philpott and his mentor Lyndsey Manzo
“They mentioned that there’s this ship called the Lake Gurdian and every year, teachers can go on it and help with some of the research,” says Philpott. “And each year they’re in one of the five Great Lakes.”
Once the research vessel opened up the opportunity for teachers to apply to be on the Lake Erie ship, Philpott decided it was time to pursue a dream he’s had for the past few years.
The application process wasn’t easy, taking days to fill out. However, Philpott’s experiences teaching environmental science, including his units on the Great Lakes, as well as his past experiences in biology helped him feel prepared to take on the opportunity.
“I feel like it’s been something I’ve been working towards for the past five years so when the application came around, it was natural,” says Philpott. “I’ve been doing all this stuff now I just have to put it into writing.”
He applied earlier this year in January and was ecstatic when he was admitted this spring. Over the summer from July 7-13, Philpott lived his sailor-scientist dreams on Lake Erie.
Great Lakes, great achievements
The Shipboard Science Workshop is an opportunity for educators to join the Center for Great Lakes Literacy and Great Lakes scientists for a week aboard an EPA research vessel. The program is centered around research and education about the Great Lakes that educators in turn take back to their classrooms and incorporate into their lessons.
Adam Philpott
Philpott retrieves plankton from the trawl
“My favorite thing that we got to do there was work with the scientists in their field,” says Philpott. “They have their own research questions they’re investigating and so we were in the lab doing the work with them.”
Due to Philpott’s experience with microbiology, he devoted his time onboard to studying algal blooms and harmful toxins in the lake. He and four other educators participated in daily educational activities and hands-on projects.
"One of the projects going on which I thought was super interesting was microplastics, and so we went to different locations and each location had a little tag," says Philpott.
Each tag in the various locations contained collected samples of water that was contaminated with all kinds of microplastics.
At 180 feet long with a 42 person capacity, Lake Gurdian supports the surveyors as they navigate all five Great Lakes.
Philpott’s main character moment was when he stood on deck while the remnants from Hurricane Beryl passed through the lake.
“I climbed up to the top and watched the waves crash and it hit me, just the experience of being out there in a boat with over 567 foot waves,” says Philpott. “I was like, ‘This is awesome.’”
While on the week-long exhibition, Philpott entered his influencer era creating funny TikToks and posts all relating to or about conducting research on the boat.
"I got a lot of pretty good comments, my students getting a kick out of my influencer era," says Philpott.
Lessons to take back
Upon returning to his home in Pickerington, his experience on the research vessel opened a whole new world of activities for him to introduce into the classroom. Part of the program includes teachers using their experiences aboard the vessel to further enhance the educational experience for students.
Philpott plans to engage his students using similar activities to what he practiced on the vessel. From algae research projects to a DIY plankton trawl, there are a few ideas he’s developed with the help of other educators onboard.
“It adds more power to things I teach because I’m going to be able to draw from real world experiences that I’ve had,” says Philpott. “Now having experience, I’ll be able to not only enhance the way I teach things but also (taught to the) kids that come to me all the time asking about what careers there are in this.”
While it is already a common practice for Philpott, he plans to take his students outside as much as he can to take the lessons from the page to the real-world to help the students see the full picture.
“As I keep incorporating these things into my classroom, I want my students to feel like scientists,” says Philpott.
Amber Phipps is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
