JASON's Argonaut

Expedition Teams

Nevada 2019

Caterpillars & Climate Change

The JASON Learning Nevada Team spent a week near the Great Basin Desert learning about caterpillars and climate change. They hit the slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, visited the University of Nevada Reno Museum with Santiago Villamarin, learned about arthropods and fire from Fire Ecologist, Dr. Jane Dell, spent an afternoon with Dr. Chris Jeffrey and Alex English in a lab located in the Center for Chemical Ecology, worked with Dr. Lora Richards creating bioassays.

Meet the Team:

Anikka Munson

At-Large

Chloe Robitaille

West Warwick Public Schools, RI

Gage Bailey

Stoughton Area Schools, WI

Helena Kohlhoff

Stoughton Area Schools, WI

Jonathan Rizzo

Genesee Valley CSD, NY

Joshua Dick

West Warwick Public Schools, RI

Lily Ford

Smithfield Public Schools, RI

Lisa Carter

Smithfield Public Schools, RI

Nichole Wesche

Genesee Valley CSD, NY

Arizona 2019

Forest Owls

The JASON Learning Arizona Team spent a week at the Southwestern Research Station in Arizona. They learned how to set up mist nets, went on hikes, sampled trees, trapped owls, and caught a Mexican long nosed bat. The team learned how to catch owls by playing various calls of the owls with 90 seconds of silence in between. If an owl answered, the mist net is put up and then more calls are played. The team was very lucky to catch the world’s smallest owl – the ELF OWL! They learned so much about tree species, owls, and many new skills.

Meet the Team:

Diamilatou Preston

Madison CUSD, IL

Jonna Whetstone

Graham Local Schools, OH

Sydney Keith

Doddridge County Public Schools, WV

Holly Niebling

Madison CUSD, IL

Jennifer Boggs

Graham Local Schools, OH

Natalie Knapp

Doddridge County Public Schools, WV

Bahamas 2019

Sea Turtles

The JASON Learning Bahamas Team spent a week at the Kenyon Research Center on Abaco Island in the Bahamas. They learn how to snorkel and duck dive. The teams helped to deploy an experiment called The Cassiopeia Jelly experiment. The Argo team caught a total of 48 turtles! These turtles were measured, weighed, tagged and and sent back to the water after being processed. The Argos got to name the turtles they caught some of those being: “Jason” the turtle, Bruce, Niko, Kenda, Tucker, Duce, Tokyo Drift, and Cookie. The team celebrated their adventure with some fun swimming and volleyball on the beach.

Meet the Team:

Daisy Estrada

Caldwell School District, ID

Jabarie Kindred

Franklin City Public Schools, VA

Katherine Feuker

Elmwood School District, WI

Keri Tomechko

Revere Local Schools, OH

Lydia Brownlee

Revere Local Schools, OH

Brandon Yanna

Franklin City Public Schools, VA

Erin Lokteff

Caldwell School District, ID

Kristel Flesberg

Elmwood School District, WI

Rebecca Owens

Ector ISD, TX

Costa Rica 2019

Bees and Pollinators

The JASON Learning Costa Rica Team spent a week on the CIEE Monteverde campus to learn about bees and other pollinators. They spent time in the field deploying traps and collecting pollinators in hikes and through local farms. They visited a hummingbird gallery and had amazing up-close experiences with these unique birds, toured a sugar cane farm, crossed rivers, hiked to high elevations, and hiked at night too.

Meet the Team:

Angel Flores

Southwest Schools, TX

Cameron Riggenbach

Wetzel County Schools, WV

Carolyn Garcia

Aldine ISD, TX

Ivan Serna

McDonald County Schools, MO

Juanita Omeje

Alief ISD, TX

Karina Chaidez

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, TX

Michael Sanchez

Houston ISD, TX

Bobby Cotton

Southwest Schools, TX

Drew Schmalz

Wetzel County, WV

Joyce Pacheco

McDonald County, MO

Lewis Moore

Alief ISD, TX

Luz Navarette

Houston ISD, TX

Mark Stanton

McDonald County, MO

Priscilla Torres

Ector ISD, TX

Sheena Nichols

Aldine ISD, TX

Whitney Timmons

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, TX

Peru 2019

Arthropods in the Amazon Rainforest

The JASON Learning Amazon Team spent a week in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest where they went on boat rides, were greeted by spiders, and hung out with The Bug Chicks. They learned about the incredible range of plant, animal, and insect biodiversity and even caught a Piranha in the river. The Argos caught the sunrise at The Canopy Walkway where they stood over 115 feet off the ground on a 500 meter bridge.

Meet the Team:

Hallie McDonald

Wetzel County Schools, WV

Hunter Halenza

Hays Consolidated ISD, TX

Jean Luis Matias

Hays Consolidated ISD, TX

Madison Fetty

Wetzel County Schools, WV

Olivia Pulley

Southampton Co. Public Schools, VA

Pedro Zavala

Spring Branch ISD, TX

Quinn Erickson

Eanes ISD, TX

Amber Harris

Southampton Co. Public Schools, VA

Jamie Flint

Spring Branch ISD, TX

Jessica Keys

Austin ISD, TX

Lauren Gehman

Eanes ISD, TX

Sharon Snider

Wetzel County Schools, WV

California, 2019

Design Thinking

The JASON Learning Design Thinking team went to the San Francisco Bay Area and visited several locations. They started off with meeting with the founder of HireClub, followed with a visit to IDEO where the Argos learned first hand about the design thinking process by designing a game for future space travelers. The team went to All Power Labs where each person got to climb into one of the resident submersibles. They then went to the d.school at Stanford University where they met with Professor Melissa Miranda. The Argo Team had the chance to meet with Argonaut Alumni, Marshall Hartung where he got to speak about his experience as an Argo and with college. The team also visited Google Headquarters, Kindred Robotics, 360Labs, and Nybll.

Meet the Team:

Gabrielle Smalls

Portsmouth Public Schools, VA

Morgan Betts

Klein ISD, TX

Ria Mehrotra

Fort Bend ISD, TX

Savannah Ellis

Spring ISD, TX

Devese Branch

Portsmouth Public Schools, VA

Diashoni Stewart

Spring ISD, TX

Jaclynn Edwards

Klein ISD, TX

Sandrea Cheek

Fort Bend ISD, TX

Tara O'Neill

Meriden Public Schools, CT