Coral Restoration, Community, and Resilience: Learning from Puerto Rico
Olivia Graeff-Fanelli and Xavier Ramdial
My Pat Cooke Fellowship experience in Puerto Rico was one of the most fruitful and fulfilling learning experiences of my life. What began as an opportunity to learn about coral restoration became a much broader exploration of water conservation, environmental sustainability, infrastructure, community resilience, Puerto Rican culture, and the ways environmental issues intersect with the lives of the people who experience them.
During our fellowship, Xavier Ramdial and I traveled to Puerto Rico and spent time learning from local organizations and communities. We partnered with a local laboratory, the Coral Nursery of Puerto Rico, where we learned about their coral restoration work, educational programming, and the daily processes involved in maintaining a coral nursery. We had the opportunity to explore their facilities and participate in laboratory testing and aquaculture procedures. Although there were not actively growing corals in the tanks during our visit, we were able to learn about the preparation for a new batch and experience firsthand how detailed and intentional coral restoration work is.
One of the most unexpected and meaningful parts of the fellowship was learning about the water crisis affecting the island. We had initially anticipated that coral restoration would be the central focus of our learning, but the realities of Puerto Rico's water infrastructure became impossible to overlook. We learned about lasting infrastructure problems connected to hurricane damage, widespread water shortages, and the impact these problems have on the everyday life of Puerto Rican people. We saw how environmental and infrastructure challenges are not abstract scientific problems; they directly affect people's ability to cook, clean, shower, and live safely in their homes. We also learned about how these challenges disproportionately affect elderly and disabled community members.
Some of my most memorable experiences were actually the moments between our planned activities. We became friends with people in the neighborhood where we stayed and helped neighbors navigate the challenges of getting water into their homes. I also became deeply attached to the many cats we encountered throughout Puerto Rico. The abandoned buildings and empty homes we saw were a visible reminder of the ways infrastructure, displacement, and economic challenges shape communities. At the same time, the generosity, humor, compassion, and resilience of the people we met left an equally strong impression on me.We also spent time exploring Puerto Rico's natural environment, including El Yunque, and learning more about the relationship between the island's ecosystems and its people.
The long-term impact of this fellowship will be directly connected to my teaching. I want my students to understand that science does not exist separately from culture, history, community, or people's lived experiences. I plan to incorporate a one-week workshop into my climate change unit focused specifically on water conservation, pollution, and environmental justice. I also want to continue finding ways to intentionally weave students' cultures, identities, and communities into the science curriculum so that students can see themselves in what they are learning.
Most importantly, this fellowship reminded me that science education can help students understand their own communities and imagine ways to improve them. I am incredibly grateful to the Pat Cooke Fund for giving me the opportunity to learn in a place that challenged me academically, professionally, and personally.
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Questions & Responses
How have your knowledge, skills, and capabilities grown?
This fellowship expanded my understanding of environmental science beyond what I can learn from a textbook or curriculum guide. I gained firsthand experience with coral restoration, aquaculture, and the complexity of maintaining a coral nursery. I also developed a much deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental sustainability and economic infrastructures. Most importantly, I learned to approach environmental issues through a more interdisciplinary lens. Coral restoration is not simply a biology issue. Water access is not simply an infrastructure issue. Environmental problems are connected to economics, history, culture, government, community health, and people's daily lives. Overall, the fellowship strengthened my confidence as a science educator. I now have a personal experience that I can bring into my classroom when teaching students about ecosystems, climate change, human impacts, conservation, and environmental justice.
As a result, in what ways will your instructional practice change?
My instructional practice will change by making my climate science instruction more connected to real communities and real-world problems. I plan to incorporate a one-week workshop into my climate change unit focused on water conservation, water pollution, infrastructure, and environmental justice. Students will investigate how access to clean and reliable water is connected to environmental and human systems.
I also want to be much more intentional about connecting science to students' cultures and identities. My students should not have to leave their identities at the classroom door in order to learn science. I want them to see that the communities they come from, the environmental challenges their families experience, and the knowledge held within their cultures are all valuable parts of scientific learning.
What is the greatest personal accomplishment of your fellowship?
My greatest personal accomplishment was learning how to connect with people through their heritage, community, and shared experiences. As a teacher, I spend so much of my time asking students to make connections between what they are learning and their own lives. This fellowship reminded me that I need to do the same thing as a learner. Being in Puerto Rico and learning directly from people who live there made the experience much more meaningful than simply reading about Puerto Rican environmental issues. I was able to listen, ask questions, build relationships, and experience the community beyond the role of a tourist. I left Puerto Rico feeling more connected to my students and more committed to making their identities and communities visible within my classroom.
How will your experience positively impact student learning in new ways?
My students will benefit from having a teacher who can bring authentic experiences into the classroom. Instead of only teaching students about climate change through diagrams, readings, and data, I can now tell them about the communities and people I met who are experiencing environmental challenges firsthand. I can show students that environmental science is connected to real people's lives. I also want to use Puerto Rico as a case study throughout my curriculum. Students can examine coral reefs, water systems, pollution, climate change, conservation, and environmental justice while also learning about Puerto Rican communities and culture. My goal is for students to leave my classroom understanding not only how environmental systems work, but why those systems matter to people.
What are your plans to work collaboratively with colleagues?
I plan to share the resources and lessons that I create, inspired from my fellowship with my science colleagues at my school. I would particularly like to develop interdisciplinary opportunities that connect science with social studies, geography, history, and students' cultural identities. I also want to share what I learned about incorporating local and community-based environmental issues into science instruction. I hope the fellowship can extend beyond my own classroom and become a resource for other teachers at my school.
Are there issues or challenges in your school, community, or the world that you feel better prepared to address with your students?
One issue I feel much better prepared to address is waste management and environmental sustainability at my school. Our students interact with waste every day, but waste management can easily become something they see as someone else's responsibility. My experience in Puerto Rico helped me think more critically about the systems behind environmental problems and the ways individuals and communities can participate in solutions. I want to help students investigate the waste produced at our school, ask where that waste goes, consider what could be reduced or reused, and develop realistic solutions. The fellowship also helped me better understand how environmental challenges can disproportionately affect communities. This will help me teach environmental issues in a way that goes beyond individual responsibility and asks students to consider larger systems and questions of environmental justice.
How would you describe to a friend the most fundamental ways in which your fellowship has changed your personal and/or professional perspective?
I went to Puerto Rico expecting to learn about coral restoration. I left having learned so much more; community, culture, environmental justice, and a deep understanding of myself as an educator. The people we met demonstrated an incredible amount of compassion, creativity, and resilience. Even while facing significant challenges, people continued to care for their communities and work toward solutions.That is something I want to carry into my classroom.
I want my students to understand that the problems facing our communities are real, but they are not necessarily permanent. Science gives us tools to understand problems, but people give science purpose. If we can teach students to ask good questions, care about their communities, work together, and believe that change is possible, then we are giving them much more than a science education.
I am deeply grateful to the Pat Cooke Fund for giving me the opportunity to experience Puerto Rico in this way. This fellowship did not simply give me something new to teach my students. It changed the way I think about what it means to teach science