From SAU #48 to the Mount Washington Observatory
“I haven’t typed ‘@pemibaker.org' in a long time!”
That was how I introduced myself to the teacher that I was an alumni of the same School Administrative Unit (SAU). I am originally from the North Shore of Boston, though I spent all of my elementary, middle, and high school education years in SAU #48 of central New Hampshire. I attended Russell Elementary School and Plymouth Regional High School before moving down to the North Shore for collegiate education at Gordon College. As I walked into Holderness Central School in Holderness, NH, for a Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS) program, I wondered how I would be able to drop the fact that I once went to school in the Pemi-Baker School District.
When the teacher suggested I email her the MWOBS presentation for her to project, I typed out her email into my laptop. The address was the same as any teacher in the district: a variation of the teacher’s name, followed with “@pemibaker.org.” I shared that “I haven’t typed ‘@pemibaker.org’ in a long time” with the teacher, to which she asked if I was a former student of the district. I was proud to share that I was, and had, funnily enough, attended school dances at Holderness Central when I was in middle school.
After that pleasant interaction with the teacher, I went on to present for the classroom one of MWOBS’s most popular presentations called “Extreme Mount Washington.” In this presentation, we discuss the jobs of the observers at the Observatory, as well as the tools they use and why Mount Washington is famous. This program also includes an outdoor component of the presentation where each student takes their own observations on wind speed, temperature, and sky conditions. Regardless that this particular program was taking place in January, the teacher and students alike were enthusiastic about going outside for this portion of the program.
The students excitedly told me that they’d be attending a field trip on the Mount Washington Cog Railway a week after my initial visit. I told them I’d likely be there for their field trip. One week later, standing in the lobby for the Cog Railway, a bunch of very excited students said my name as they recognized me among my coworkers. I was just as happy to see them again as they were to see me. It was a surreal moment for me to lead my first program solo, especially in a town from my former district. It was even more surreal to be recognized by a bunch of students as a “cool teacher” they knew by name.
It's a weird moment when you realize that someone looks up to you, especially when you were “in their shoes” not too long ago. I never thought that I, a kid who came from a little town in central New Hampshire, would be serving in an AmeriCorps position with MWOBS.
Olivia is currently serving through the LRCC with the Mount Washington Observatory as a school programs educator. She grew up visiting Mount Washington every summer on camping trips with her family and fell in love with the science and beauty of the mountain. Learn more about Olivia here.