My Experience with the Fear to Hope Project - Jonas Miller

I joined Fear to Hope, Dr. Atkinson's project, after answering a call for lead mentors early in fall semester 2025. There was a couple of projects available and my experience with GIS programs, while very basic, was enough to take on the Shoreline Retreat study. I inherited the previous mentor's work, which consisted of a series of shoreline outlines from Ragged Island layered over a single aerial imagery layer. There six different outlines, dating between 1976 and 2021. Since 1976, the shoreline has retreated at an annual rate of 1.7 m/yr, while sea level has risen by approximately 5.8 mm. Pretty scary statistics, however, those numbers only tell half a story. Thanks to a stroke of seriously good luck, I chanced up on a map from 1872 showing the extent of Ragged Island at that time. With the new shoreline, we're able to say that the retreat rate from 1872-1976 has nearly doubled from 1976 to 2021. 

My experience in the program is far more than just my own project. I've really enjoyed working with other passionate, driven youth with the same goals, not to mention the awesome mentorship of Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Whiting. That said, my favorite part of the program is undoubtably working with the high school age kids and watching them find passion within nature. 

As far as new ideas go, my one thought is simple: ask the students how we can make the program better. From what I can tell, most of the correspondence occurs between the school and the teachers, who ideally represent their students. As representatives of professional-grade biology, we tend to maintain our focus on other professionals rather than the purpose of our work, the students. I believe that the students know what kind of material appeals to them the most, giving us an opportunity to re-structure our curriculum to better suit the younger generations.

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