NC teachers set to explore S. Africa
For immediate release ‐ July 07, 2025
Contact: Jon Pishney, 919-244-7913. Images available upon request
[RALEIGH, N.C.] — For the first time ever, a dozen teachers from across North Carolina will experience South Africa like never before as part of a new North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educators of Excellence Institute.
From July 20 to Aug. 4, Museum educators will lead a select group of teachers through the best wild lands that South Africa has to offer, from game reserves and grasslands to mountains and wetlands to beaches and estuaries. The group will experience the thrill of coming face to face with a herd of African elephants from an open safari vehicle, walk with safari rangers in the bush of Kruger National Park, hike through the stunning Tugela Gorge in the Drakensberg mountains, take a river cruise in the company of the hippos and crocodiles, and learn from local guides about the diverse flora and fauna of South Africa.
The goal of the Institute is for each participating teacher to return to their classroom renewed in their passion for teaching, full of new information to enliven the curriculum, excited to share their South Africa experience with their students, and eager to highlight all the connections to our wonderful state of North Carolina. You can follow their travel blog at https://educatorsofexcellence.org/.
South Africa Institute Participants:
- Stephanie Benner, McGee’s Crossroads Elementary School, Johnston County
- Flavia Burton, Ocracoke School, Hyde County
- Khadijah Daniels, Wellcome Middle School, Pitt County
- Shannon Russell Hardy, Wake Young Men’s Leadership Academy, Wake County
- Ashley Jesse, Greene Central High School, Greene County
- Emily Ludlum, Wallace Elementary School, Duplin County
- Shelley Marshall, Asheville Middle School, Buncombe County
- Amy Ross, East Rutherford High School, Rutherford County
- Lindsay Smith, NC School of Science and Mathematics, Burke County
- Pam Stanley, B.F. Grady Elementary School, Duplin County
- Christine Sudzina Schut, Culbreth Middle School, Orange County
- Michael Warholik, Conn Magnet Elementary School, Wake County
The South Africa trip is one of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educators of Excellence Institutes — along with Yellowstone and Mexico — that aim to inform and empower educators to teach students about North Carolina’s ecological connections to the rest of the world. More than 900 outstanding North Carolina educators have participated in these Institutes since 1987.
For more information about our upcoming activities, conservation news and groundbreaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on Instagram and Facebook.