TEACHER OF INTEREST
The SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL
As a recipient of a Brickman Foundation grant, Kerryane Monahan researched the impact of climate change and pollution on fisheries in Newfoundland,
Canada. She’s pictured here with a snow crab caught onboard the Southern Pride off Twillingate, Newfoundland, in June 2018.
BY KERRY FIRTH
What does St. Edward’s School in Vero Beach
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have in common with the National Geographic
Society? One very talented teacher. Dr. Kerryane
Monahan, chair of the science department at St.
Edward’s, has been awarded a fellowship with the National
Geographic Society in the field of citizen science.
Fellows work alongside National Geographic staff to ignite
the spirit of exploration in the next generation, providing
classroom resources and experiences that reach millions of
students each year. It’s an honor extended to only eight individuals
in all of North America.
“To say I’m honored and humbled is an understatement,”
exclaims Monahan. “I never in a million years thought I’d
be selected, and I’m still pinching myself. I am truly in the
company of greatness.”
Monahan’s journey started 16 years ago with an epiphany
she had while scraping ice off her windshield during a particularly
brutal winter day in Boston. She came to a sudden
realization that she didn’t have to live in those conditions.
In that moment of clarity, she went back into her apartment,
KERRYANE MONAHAN
called her boss at Boston University and told him she would
not be in that day, or the next day or ever again. “I enjoyed
the teaching I was doing, but I wasn’t happy in the lab. I
wasn’t sure this was the path I wanted to pursue, and since I
had been in school forever and I thought I needed a year off.”
Without looking back, Monahan packed her bag, took a
train to the airport and asked the ticket agent where the next
flight was heading. Fort Lauderdale was the answer, and she
jumped on board. She had no plan or destination, just a burning
desire for change.
“When I landed in Fort Lauderdale, I rented a car and
headed north on A1A,” she says. “I got thirsty by the time
I came to Fort Pierce and stopped for a drink. I wandered
into the House of Seven Gables Visitors Center and started
talking to the volunteers who told me all about the area. They
suggested I go over to Pepper Park (on North Hutchinson
Island) to see the beaches, so I did. I got out of the car and
walked down a path that took me through a sea grape tunnel
opening up to the most beautiful view of the ocean I had ever
seen. I was hooked! I knew I wanted to live here.” >>
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