This year’s start to school has been more challenging than I expected. I kept hoping that if we could just go back to school in person, then everything would be normal again. However, we are still dealing with a pandemic and the first few months of school have been overwhelmingly difficult for teachers and students.
My Kenan Fellows experience has helped me extend more grace to myself, my students, and other teachers. Understanding the importance of social and emotional health has caused me to see my students’ behavior and academic struggles through a lens of compassion. I am also more aware of and empathetic to my colleagues’ struggles this year. I still have high expectations for myself, my students, and my coworkers, but I am trying to remember the importance of balance and that the relationships are the most important piece of what I do each day.
I have also been more intentional about taking my students outside to learn when I can because the day we spent outside at NCCAT reminded me how reenergizing a little fresh air, a change of scenery, and time in nature can be.
Finally, I am trying to look for leadership potential in others and especially reach out to encourage younger teachers this year. We desperately need them in our profession, but the struggle for them to remain in the fight is real. I want to be available with a listening ear and a positive voice.
My Biltmore Farms mentor, Carol, set up a wonderful internship experience for me. We began with a driving tour of the various properties and developments that are associated with Biltmore Farms which provided me an overview and context for understanding their work. I enjoyed exploring the history of the company and the Vanderbilt family throughout my experience. I met individually with the Biltmore Farms President and each Executive Vice President to learn more about their roles in each division of the company. Throughout the experience, Carol allowed me to shadow her and interact with her Human Resources team which gave me a greater understanding of the talent recruitment and development mindset. Visits to the Arboretum and Biltmore Estates allowed me to conclude my time with Biltmore Farms in a very sentimental way. Throughout my internship, I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and genuine interest everyone showed me as a teacher and I felt their sincerity in supporting my work with students in the future.
Honestly, every moment was interesting but two really stand out. It was amazing to see “behind the scenes” at the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park hotel. I have a greater appreciation of the many ways they focus on sustainability while providing a luxurious guest experience throughout. From the building design to solar panels on the roof which heat water, and from composting food waste in the restaurant kitchen to recycling used soaps – there is a deliberate focus on responsible stewardship of resources. I was also very interested in learning about the real-world impacts of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act as I toured the Pratt & Whitney construction site of the bridge and other infrastructure projects. I literally felt the content in my textbook jump off the page as I saw the plans for building bat boxes to protect the endangered bat population and the erosion control methods being implemented to protect the French Broad River.
Solar Panels on the roof of the Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park hotel
Hilton Asheville Biltmore Park
Bridge construction across the French Broad River
Looking across the French Broad River to the Pratt & Whitney site
The biggest challenge I had during my internship was being able to process all of the information I heard and saw. The company is such a diverse operation which encompasses so many aspects of land use and economic development that I am still having a difficult time narrowing down a project for my classroom. Each day as I drove down the mountain, I had time to reflect on ways I could bring the experience back to my students. I went into the internship with one big idea for a PBL unit, but I left with numerous lesson ideas and I know I will not have enough class time to do everything I can envision.
My biggest takeaway came from meeting with Mr. Jack Cecil, the President of Biltmore Farms. I was impressed with his strategic approach to community development, his desire to positively impact the entire western region of North Carolina, and the time he devoted to personally answering all of my questions. As a native of the region, my life has personally been touched by the generosity and vision of the Vanderbilt family, and until my internship I had no idea just how vast the family’s legacy of sustainable land use reaches. It was very inspirational to see how a family owned company can make decisions based on its core values (tenants) and intentionally improve the lives of others with a focus on sustainable use of the resources that make our region so special. I was also impressed by the innovation it took to reinvent the company from a dairy business to what it encompasses today.
It was exciting for me as a high school educator to see the variety of career opportunities available to my students. I was impressed by several of the Vice Presidents who began their education at AB Tech and worked their way up through the industry to their current leadership positions. The hospitality industry provides many career pathways with various education levels which are realistic for many of my students. I also heard about how other executives rely on wildlife biologists, geologists, hydrologists, and engineers from state and federal agencies and private consultant companies to advise them on compliance with federal and state requirements. I am also excited about the future job opportunities and training that will be possible with Pratt & Whitney within an hour’s drive of our county. Finally, I learned a lot about the importance of Human Resources professionals in the work of any company. A focus on recruiting, inducting, and supporting talented individuals with a long-range plan in mind is evident throughout Biltmore Farms.
During the first two weeks of my internship with Biltmore Farms, I have been amazed, inspired, and humbled by the legacy of sustainable community development that began generations ago with George Vanderbilt and continues today through his descendants. The company truly integrates its Five Tenants in all aspects of the business and it is evident that community development has vastly different focus than real estate development. Each executive that I have met is an expert in his or her respective field and has been extremely gracious in sharing time and knowledge with me. I am excited to pass on what I am learning to my students. Carol, my mentor, scheduled meaningful conversations and field experiences for me which has set me up for a successful internship and project.
My mind is filled with many ideas about how I can translate my experiences into impactful lessons for my students. I have seen more connections to my Environmental Science content than I can count. I have been exposed to numerous career opportunities for my students, seen multiple real-world examples of sustainable design principles in both buildings and communities, observed conservation practices in commercial and industrial projects, and learned about economic and environmental trade-offs in making land development decisions. I can literally refer to a real-world example from Biltmore Farms’ work in every unit of my AP Environmental Science course. Now, my greatest challenge is in deciding exactly how to do just that.
I took the Myers Briggs inventory for the first time during a leadership conference the summer after my freshman year of high school. I was only one of two people there with my type. I remember feeling singled out and like I had the “wrong” personality type because my introverted self felt very uncomfortable watching all of the extroverts across the room who seemed to be having such fun. About thirty years later on the first full day of the KFP Summer Institute, I found many amazing people who share aspects of my personality type. Because of this discovery, I started my adventure as a Kenan Fellow by embracing my strengths as a leader instead of feeling as if I should force myself to be someone I’m not. My week was a refreshing time of self-reflection and deep learning. Being surrounded by positive educators who are passionate about our profession and building friendships with my peer review group were the highlights of my week. I know this was just the beginning of some wonderful relationships and I am certain I will be calling on my new friends and colleagues from now on.
My green notebook is filled with ideas to implement in my classroom. I learned a few new team-building activities that I will be adding into my plans for our first days back from the Covid-19 schedule. I am excited to do the Ant Picnic citizen science project with my Biology students and will plan some GooseChase scavenger hunts for all my classes. I will create my first official PBL lesson this year based on my internship with Biltmore Farms and I’m excited to incorporate some local community connections into it as well.
The Professional Development I experienced during my week at the KFP Summer Institute was more personalized than any other that I have attended. For the first time as a learner, I had so many opportunities to choose my own learning paths. I truly enjoyed the freedom to allow myself alone time for personal reflection and exploration. With my new and improved understanding of my personality type, I felt empowered to learn in my own preferred way without the guilt of “doing it wrong”. I also appreciated the encouragement to push past my comfort zone to interact and learn from a diverse group of excellent educators. Having so much choice of what, when, and how to learn this week was truly refreshing and multiplied the week’s impact on me.
I am excited to begin my Kenan Fellows Program journey THIS summer ~ especially after completing the most challenging school year of my career.
I cannot wait to learn first-hand how Biltmore Farms applies their Five Guiding Tenets to community development in the mountain region where my students and I live. I hope to apply what I learn during my internship to my classroom teaching practice by creating a Project-Based Learning lesson. My primary goal is to guide my students to apply their science content knowledge and process skills to solve a locally relevant, real-world challenge: How can we meet the needs of people in our community while also protecting the natural resources that make our home so special? I also look forward to broadening my impact on other teachers and ultimately on all of our students as I refine my skills as a teacher-leader.
