A View From the Center of the Earth

On Friday, March 23, a group of seventh grade students from the “Challenger House” were able to participate in an innovative presentation by Bridgewater State University’s EarthView Program.   

Thanks to the Wilmington School to Business Partnership, along with Geography teacher Grayce McCreary, these lucky students were able to step inside of EarthView’s inflatable globe and see the world from a whole new perspective. 

Unlike a standard presentation, Earthview’s globe is, as they explain on their website, a whole new view. 

“The outside is a hand-painted, large-scale map of the Earth's surface, showing biological communities, rivers, seas, landforms, continents, islands, oceans, and major cities. The inside reveals the positions of tectonic plate boundaries and ocean spreading centers, along with all of the detail visible from the outside.”

With an EarthView educator inside the globe with them, these students were able to learn about the Earth, quite literally, from the inside out. Of course, the view from the inside is a little different and, as 7th grade student Alexia was quick to point out, “you had to get used to the fact that everything was reversed.”

Among the facts that the students learned were, according to Kaitlin and Kirsten, that “At one time India was an island,” and, “Some day California will be an island, too.”

Tyler pointed out how cool it was to find out, “mountains once covered most of the land,” and Shannon was impressed by realizing, “how big the oceans and continents were.”

Once the students exited the globe, however, the presentation was still far from over. The next stop was an exhibit tailored to the local geography. Students learned about everything from the Middlesex Canal to the Baldwin Apple and, at the same time, were introduced to the EarthView blog.

Perhaps, however, the most impressive part of the EarthView’s visit was how it all came together. Seventh grade geography teacher, Grayce McCreary was barely one month into her career in Wilmington when she began the process of getting EarthView to the Middle School. 

Having experienced EarthView for herself at a program in North Andover, McCreary knew that it would be a great opportunity for her students.  

“I inquired about the program coming to Wilmington and Professor Domingo gave me his contact information,” she explained. “When I found out about the Innovative Teacher Grant through the Business Partnership in Wilmington, I thought that it would be a perfect match so I applied.” 

Both Middle School Principal, Christine McMenimen and Assistant Superintendant of Schools, Kate Burnham were impressed by McCreary’s initiative and dedication.

“For a first year teacher to find a program like this and begin writing a grant during her first month of teaching is a homerun,” McMenimen said.

“It is such a testament to McCleary’s dedication to the school and the students,” added Burnham.

McCreary said all of her hard work paid off the moment she saw the student’s faces. 

“My favorite part of the program was when I saw the students’ faces as they walked into the gym," she said. "It was priceless how amazed they all looked when they saw EarthView for the first time.”

McMenimen was impressed by the sheer magnitude of bringing the EarthView Globe into the school and setting it up.

“These people are professionals,” she said. “They really do work like a well oiled machine.”

As for McCreary, she hopes that EarthView is just the beginning of a long teaching career here in Wilmington.

“I have a wonderful group of kids with a lot of curiosity. Their interest in learning makes me hopeful and happy to be in the profession.”