Mansfield teachers study sustainability in Denmark
Aug. 15—MANSFIELD — Mansfield Elementary School ( MES) teachers Jennifer Zugarazo and Michelle Mather are currently in Denmark for a 14-day trip as Fund for Teachers fellows.
Zugarazo is an ELL/ Spanish teacher and Mather is the enrichment teacher at MES, formerly teaching at Annie E. Vinton Elementary School.
Fund for Teachers is a grant fellowship program that provides funding for full- time pre- kindergarten through grade 12 teachers to travel for study or research.
According to their website, Fund for Teachers has awarded $35 million in grants to nearly 9,200 of America's top educators over the past 22 years. The Fund for Teachers website claims that their fellows have traveled to 170 different countries on all seven continents.
Zugarazo and Mather described that the goal of their fellowship is to learn about sustainability and zero waste by visiting four schools and various companies in Denmark and taking back what they learn to the district's new MES. They hope to facilitate positive change toward creating a zero waste and sustainable school based on what they learn during their fellowship.
" Many European countries lead the world in their eco- friendly practices and sustainable living," Zugarazo and Mather said in their fellowship application. " By visiting not only schools, but several companies involved with sustainability programs and eco- friendly practices, we can help guide our own students to make changes in our school and our community beyond."
Through their research and correspondence with Eco-Schools, the largest global sustainable schools program, Zugarazo and Mather mapped a plan to travel to visit schools, businesses and cultural sites in Copenhagen, Bornholm, S?nderborg and Aalborg. Bornholm was featured in National Geographic for its commitment to going zero waste.
Zugarazo and Mather are eager to see garden- to- table food production by students, energy conservation managed by a student- based energy patrol, intense waste management systems and energy generation.
Two of the schools Zugarazo and Mather planned on visiting are located in ecologically sensitive locations and incorporate conservation into their curriculum.
Several Mansfield Public School District teachers have been awarded fellowships from Fund for Teachers.
Kim King, MES art teacher and Connecticut's 2022 Teacher of the Year, also traveled for her fellowship this summer. She took a trip to South Korea to study arts and culture, a trip she earned in 2021 that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2017, four of the district's elementary school teachers, Ashley Rancourt, Diane Hutton, Amanda Doyle and Holly Harakaly traveled to China. Their fellowship involved conducting a field study of Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an while participating in professional development through the Ministry of Education and various local educators. The group traveled to China to
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