15-04-2025
Fayetteville teacher to be a part of deep-sea exploration voyage
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Fayetteville High School teacher has been selected to join a deep-sea exploration expedition with the Ocean Exploration Trust, a non-profit focused on learning more about the ocean and the ecosystems throughout it.
After being selected as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow for National Geographic in 2023, Matt Holden learned about the OET's Science Communication Fellowship opportunities.
This year, Holden is one of eight first-time Science Communication Fellows to be on the 2025 expeditions, who will be joined by three Lead Science Communication Fellows that will act as mentors.
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He will be heading to the Marshall Islands this summer to learn more about and share the team's discoveries as they explore deep sea habitats. However, the team members themselves are not the ones who will be diving into the deep.
'We'll be sending these robots down,' Holden said. 'While they're on their dives, we'll have a live feed where I will be talking and explaining what we're seeing and what we're doing.'
Holden said he's not only excited about being on the expedition, but also the knowledge he plans to bring back to his students.
'We are a landlocked state, so I think it's incredibly important to provide some knowledge about these ocean ecosystems and the threats that they're currently facing,' Holden said, 'Many students that I teach may have never visited the ocean, and so this might be the first time they're learning about these types of environments. And I think it's very important for them to understand them.'
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