##Diane Ireland
Diane Ireland, a new Kenan Fellow in the Class of 2012, has just begun her Kenan Fellowship and is already hitting the road in North Carolina. Ireland is engaged in a project titled “Logistics: More than Trucks and Trains”, and working alongside Mentor Kathleen Patterson, the growing importance of the flow of materials and services in our state is making an impression on her.
Ireland is a second grade teacher at [ William R. Davie Elementary School ] [davie] in Mocksville, NC. In collaboration with a strong network of other accomplished teachers and experts in the field, she will use her fellowship to build exciting lessons based on local activities that are part of her students’ lives. “These interesting experiences will present a wonderful opportunity to share new ideas with my students. They will be eager to use new technology to learn how things are moved around the world. I’m excited to visit locations such as the port in Wilmington, and I know I’ll get some great ideas on how to incorporate my experience this summer into relevant lessons for the classroom. Last year’s students used Google Earth to study current events,” she said, “and resources from a variety of companies will be incorporated into the new lessons I develop. My students have no fear when it comes to using technology, so they will be excited to use new educational tools.”
Kenan Fellows work to use real world systems and studies to illustrate and explain critical concepts. They help students understand why what’s in the book matters to their future and community. As Operations Manager for the [North Carolina Center for Global Logistics][logistics], Patterson says the Piedmont/Triad will benefit from working with a Kenan Fellow on this project. “It helps us make people aware of how important the logistics and transportation industry is to the region. Having well-prepared young people in the pipeline for future jobs is vital to our economy, and working with elementary students is an important first step.”
Ireland’s project is generously funded by the [Mebane Foundation][mebane], a charitable foundation founded by Allen Mebane, a successful North Carolina textile manufacturer. The foundation is unique in its collaborative approach to promoting successful educational environments and seeing that students build important skills for school success in the early grades.
[davie]: http://www.wrdes.davie.k12.nc.us/ “William R. Davie Elementary School”[logistics]: http://www.piedmonttriadaerotropolis.com/cgl/ “North Carolina Center for Global Logistics”
[mebane]: http://www.mebanefoundation.com/ “Mebane Charitable Foundation”