Creekside High School is one of 20 schools nationwide selected to partner directly with a National Geographic explorer actively conducting field research through the National Geographic Explorer Exchange program. The students in the Academy of Environmental Science, taught by Ali Pressel,
have been working hard to research their assigned Explorer, Tutilo Mudumba. Mr. Mudumba is a PhD student at Michigan State University, working to address social challenges in the local communities surrounding a National Park in his country of Uganda. He started his career working with lions and wildlife conservation in the National Park and started the nonprofit organization Snares to Wares after realizing that the communities surrounding the National Park needed alternatives to poaching demands in communities that are struggling to maintain subsistence living conditions. Mr. Mudumba is looking to the
students in the Academy of Environmental Science to help create environmental education guidelines to share with the local communities in Uganda and help engage the community in sustainable development and ecotourism to protect the valuable resources in the nearby National Park. Students are communicating directly with Mr. Mudumba through online virtual meetings and will also have the opportunity to work with the students from Michigan State on the project in the upcoming months.
