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FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham Public Schools is proud to share that Rebecca Maynard, Science Teacher and Environmental Awareness Club Co-Advisor at Framingham High School, has been awarded a Project Kindle Fellowship from Earthwatch.

In an effort to continue to raise awareness for environmental issues, Ms. Maynard will be traveling to Costa Rica in July to complete field research on pollinators, which are animals who provide essential ecosystem services and play a crucial role in the production of many fruits and vegetables. Due to climate change, pesticide use, and habitat loss, pollinator communities are becoming more and more threatened each year.

As part of this expedition, Ms. Maynard will be working with local communities to plant trees to create agroforests, forests that grow in pastures around or among crops. This will help build the pollinator communities and provide livelihoods for low-income families in the region. She will also be collecting, surveying, and observing pollinators, and investigating how threats to bees and butterflies will affect the critical pollination services they provide.

When asked about the upcoming experience, Ms. Maynard said, “After participating in my first teacher fellowship to Baja Mexico last year, I knew I wanted to experience another course as soon as possible. I am so honored to be chosen as one of the educators for the Earthwatch Project Kindle fellowship. This is a great opportunity to grow professionally and personally. I am excited to be working in the field with an expert scientist and also to be working with the people of Costa Rica to protect important pollinator species. Costa Rica is a model of sustainability and I am excited to bring back all I learn to my students. Hopefully, my students will be able to join an Earthwatch expedition next school year and to participate in their own research opportunity.”

The District recognizes and appreciates Ms. Maynard’s commitment and dedication to continued professional learning, which extends to her students both in the classroom and through her work with the Environmental Awareness Club.

Learn about Earthwatch’s Conserving Wild Bees and Other Pollinators of Costa Rica program visit: https://earthwatch.org/

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Sources: Framingham Public Schools media release.