Our Wildwood, Volume 48

WOLVES MAKING WAVES Students, alumni, and faculty making us proud

Our Latest Wave-Makers

Christine Wheaton Upper school science teacher Christine Wheaton spent the summer exploring ecology and conservation efforts in Belize, thanks to Wildwood’s Research Exploration and Advancement Program (REAP). Made possible by the Landis Green Innovation Fund, one of Wildwood’s three endowed funds, REAP was created to support faculty members in their quest to gain global experience and understanding to advance their practice at Wildwood. In the process, she collected data on manatee and hawksbill turtle nesting sites, researched the country’s West African cultural legacy, and explored the second largest barrier reef in the world—all to inform her plans for our Environmental Science and Biology students this year.

Dr. Joanie Banks-Hunt Director of Upper School Dr. Joanie Banks-Hunt was a featured panelist at the Society of Women Engineers national conference, WE22. As a female trailblazer in the male-dominated field of engineering, Dr. Banks-Hunt discussed how the industry has evolved since the 1970s and the current state of women in engineering. While the overall number of women in engineering has grown exponentially, Dr. Banks-Hunt shared that the actual percentage of women engineers has remained at approximately nine percent—a figure that Dr. Banks-Hunt hopes to change by encouraging more female students into STEM fields. To illustrate the wide array of career paths available to female engineers, Dr. Banks-Hunt shared her own trajectory from Silicon Valley high tech engineering to math and engineering educator, college professor, and now, Director of Upper School at Wildwood.

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