If Jennifer Chen had to write an essay on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation,”
it would be titled “Climate Change and Caterpillars.”

The third-grade teacher in West Covina literally spent 11 days studying our
fuzzy little friends in Arizona. It was all part of a fellowship that the
Telesis Academy instructor got from the Durfee Foundation.

“I applied for the Earthwatch Educator’s Fellowship, because I wanted to
understand scientific research done on a professional level,” Chen explained.

So the Rowland Unified teacher volunteered to work on a scientific expedition
with Earthwatch. Chen joined seven other educators from Los Angeles to study
caterpillars in the Coronado National Forest.

Read more in Rich Irwin’s story CATERPILLAR.