Some special and unique educational opportunities will take some ROHS teachers abroad this year. John Worrell and David Barnett have been awarded opportunities to expand and further explore their educational paths outside of the United States. Barnett, a science teacher, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Finland at the University of Helsinki. He will leave in mid-January and will return in mid-May. In his application, Barnett proposed a rationale for a research project, and how it was specific to Finland, which is similar to Michigan climatically. Barnett says that in Finland, being outdoors is essential to education, and in general, people who live there tend to be fairly happy, compared to some other countries around the world. He will explore more about being exposed to the outdoors and the effects it can have on mental health. Barnett hopes to use his findings on environmental impact and mental health, and apply them in his classroom with students at ROHS.

“My hope is to look at the impact of studying the environment, being outdoors, and how it promotes mental health,” he said.
Barnett will be joined in Finland by his wife, ELA teacher Leah Barnett, who is excited about the experience of living overseas.
“I am a big advocate for travel in general. I think you learn so much about yourself, so to me, this decision was easy as can be,” she said.
The Barnetts will stay in an apartment in the city of Helsinki, only minutes away from the Baltic Sea. They hope to travel on the weekends a couple of times a month, since there are lots of interesting places to see, both inside and outside of Finland, and not far from where they will be living. Leah Barnett is up for the challenge of relocating and immersing herself in Finnish culture.
“I hope that I can learn that I can handle living in a different place, and I hope this experience will be a great verification that I’m willing and able to adapt to their culture,” she said.
The opportunity is sure to bring some new experiences for the Barnetts, including adapting to cultural differences, learning a different language, and getting to conduct research in a new environment. Barnett, a veteran teacher who teaches a number of science courses, is anticipating a positive experience and continued growth as an educator.

“I am looking forward to using my experience as a teacher and having a chance to look at something I think is really interesting,” he said.
While the Barnetts anticipate a new chapter in Finland, social studies teacher John Worrell is still reflecting fondly on his summer travels to the Icelandic Arctic with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. Worrell was awarded the opportunity to go on the two-week journey after being selected as a Grovesnor Teacher Fellow through a rigorous application process to represent National Geographic and Royal Oak Schools overseas. The trip lasted just over two weeks during the summer, and provided all sorts of new experiences for Worrell. As he steps into his new role as a Grovesnor Teacher Fellow, he will promote and encourage an “Explorer Mindset”, which challenges others (including his students) to approach the world with an open mind
for the positive progression of the planet.
“We are ambassadors to what National Geographic Education refers to as the ‘Explorer Mindset’, which is a way of thinking in terms of promoting cultural competence and conservation-based thinking, and to approach the world with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and empowerment to create positive change,” he said.
The journey allowed Worrell and others to circumnavigate Iceland, stopping at several points along the coast while traveling clockwise, beginning and ending in the capital city of Reykjavík. Worrell thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful natural scenery of Iceland, specifically the Westfjords Region.
“There were deep water fjords between alpine peaks that were carved out by glaciers tens of thousands of years ago. It was so captivating and unique, and just otherworldly,” he said.

Worrell was excited about the opportunity to see and engage with these natural landscapes firsthand. He also had some opportunities to go off on his own to do a few trail runs through the mountains, which he was really hoping he would be able to do during his trip. In addition, he got the unique opportunity to work alongside National Geographic photographers on his expedition. As someone who is passionate about photography himself, this was a very exciting experience for Worrell.
“Getting to work with world-class photographers so I could refine my skills and practice new techniques was really a chance of a lifetime for me,” he said.
Worrell observes a waterfall in Iceland.
During the expedition, Worrell was part of a project exploring some of the invasive species Iceland has, and how they are managed. He is taking what he gathered from this research and bringing it back home, where we have our own local invasive species that we have to deal with as well.
“I wanted to see how northern European- in particular, Icelandic public land managers – manage their invasive species to compare it to how we do it here at the local level to see if we can develop new ideas to see what we could possibly do here,” he said.
After this journey of a lifetime, Worrell also intends to bring back what he gained to his own classroom and community, promoting and encouraging curiosity and empowerment within the environment. Worrell learned the importance and value of embracing new experiences and going outside of his comfort zone.
“I learned that stepping out of your comfort zone is what makes life exciting, fresh, and new, because we are all faced with our self-imposed limitations,” he said. “I learned to not fall victim to these self-imposed limitations we place on ourselves.”

These special opportunities of a lifetime that send some of our teachers overseas have proven to be very valuable. ROHS is looking forward to hearing about the Barnetts’ experience in Finland, as well as new perspectives they will gain from it, and seeing what ideas and perspectives Worrell is passing on to his students from his expedition through Iceland. Having some of our teachers experience the world in the ways that these teachers are is sure to be impactful to their students, and help to promote positive environmental change in the future within our own community.