{"id":51,"date":"2022-08-16T16:45:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T16:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=51"},"modified":"2024-03-05T15:49:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:49:01","slug":"biodiversity-graduate-students-joann-daddio-and-tim-martin-translate-learning-into-teaching-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2022\/08\/16\/biodiversity-graduate-students-joann-daddio-and-tim-martin-translate-learning-into-teaching-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity graduate students JoAnn D\u2019Addio and Tim Martin translate learning into teaching opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two graduate students in the\u00a0M.S. in Integrative Biological Diversity<\/a>\u00a0program at\u00a0Western Connecticut State University<\/a>, JoAnn D\u2019Addio and Tim Martin, are utilizing their studies to cultivate a new generation of environmental stewards.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Addio is an instructor of biology and special education at\u00a0Carmel High School<\/a>\u00a0in Carmel, New York, where she has worked for 14 years. Martin currently teaches at\u00a0Stamford High School<\/a>\u00a0in Connecticut. He has worked there for four years teaching science.<\/p>\n

Martin received his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of North Dakota and his master\u2019s in Education from the University of Bridgeport before earning a doctorate for Educational Leadership from Southern Connecticut State University. He is now in his last semester at WCSU in pursuit of his master\u2019s degree in Biology. This semester, Martin is working on an independent study project centered around beekeeping.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Tim

Tim Martin tending bee hives at Stamford High School<\/p><\/div>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His interest in the discipline stems from a hobby of maintaining his own personal beehive with his son. More recently, he has translated this hobby into the concept for a popular new\u00a0Beekeeping Club<\/a>\u00a0at Stamford High School. The club meets each week after school for about two hours. During the first half of the meeting, Martin discusses what bees are likely doing at that time of year, then the students don their beekeeping suits and observe the hive bees\u2019 behavior to see if it matches their predictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids do all the work, as I guide them through the process,\u201d said Martin, \u201cThere\u2019s a job for each person, from lighting the smoker, to inspecting the hive, to taking notes. All jobs change from week to week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club was first established after students\u2019 return to in-person learning in 2020 to help them \u201cfeel like they\u2019re part of the school community again.\u201d Since Martin is the club\u2019s only supervisor, membership is limited to 15 students. There is an extensive waiting list for the club, and Martin said, \u201cWe can open the club up to more students as students graduate in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

To supplement his work with Stamford High School students, Martin applied for several grant opportunities he learned about from WCSU\u2018s M.S. in Integrative Biological Diversity Coordinator Dr. Theodora Pinou. As a result, Martin received a $1,000 grant from the National Parks Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI plan to take my environmental science students to\u00a0Weir Farm National Historic Site<\/a>\u00a0on a series of three trips where they will sit in the woods alone for hours and journal about their experience,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to get them to understand what Thoreau did while writing Walden and then link how his writings influenced Muir and led to the modern environmental movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"JoAnn

JoAnn D\u2019Addio in the Pollinator Garden at Tarrywile Park<\/p><\/div>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fellow graduate student D\u2019Addio aspires to create a similar club at her high school. In the summer of 2021, she became the steward of a plant-pollinator garden at\u00a0Tarrywile Park<\/a>\u00a0in Danbury for her graduate program. This garden is part of a larger movement in the northeast called the\u00a0Pollinator Pathway<\/a>, which is an initiative D\u2019Addio would like to implement in Carmel.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Addio has been a teacher for 20 years, spending 14 in her current post in Carmel. She is originally from Newburgh, New York, where she attended college. At Mount Saint Mary\u2019s College, she earned her undergraduate degree in Media Studies, while also studying Elementary and Special Education. She then went on to study Literacy for Special Education in graduate school.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Addio was informed of the garden by another WCSU graduate student who was the Tarrywile steward in 2020. She describes the Pollinator Pathway as an initiative to combat invasive foreign species of plants that damage the ecosystem and ultimately the environment. \u201cIt includes planters planting gardens devoted to native plants,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich serve as way-stations for native insects and birds to visit and nourish themselves before they move on to the next patch.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her day-to-day teaching, D\u2019Addio said that her stewardship experience and classroom studies in the WCSU master\u2019s program have had a profound effect. \u201cThe information that I learn in my courses at WestConn has really bolstered my ability to teach my students and be able to provide additional information. I can speak to and have a deeper understanding of topics that are barely covered in the textbook,\u201d said D\u2019Addio. She hopes to see more high school special education teachers access the program provided by WCSU.<\/p>\n

WCSU Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Rayda Krell, who has a background in plant-insect interactions, mentored Martin and D\u2019Addio. \u201cTim and JoAnn came into our master\u2019s program as highly accomplished professionals, but it was so fun to work with them and see how our program gave them opportunities to explore their passions for environmental work. Our Integrative Biological Diversity program provides the structure, ecological expertise and community connections to allow students to execute a project that is meaningful for them. Tim and JoAnn both made the most of the opportunity and chose projects that could connect their passions and professions. I love that our program ends up having exponential impact because they are extending what they learned back to even more students.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit\u00a0www.wcsu.edu\/biology-msbiodiversity\/<\/a>\u00a0or contact the Office of Public Relations at\u00a0pr@wcsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two graduate students in the\u00a0M.S. in Integrative Biological Diversity\u00a0program at\u00a0Western Connecticut State University, JoAnn D\u2019Addio and Tim Martin, are utilizing their studies to cultivate a new generation of environmental stewards. D\u2019Addio is an instructor of biology and special education at\u00a0Carmel …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}