Pamala Bethke

Bethke’s innovative teaching idea, “Help the Monarch’s Plight,” focuses on conducting research on the Monarch Waystation that her school’s Environmental Awareness Club designed, created and registered last spring. She and her students hope to study the effect that the waystation has had on the dwindling monarch population by tagging the butterflies, taking drone photography and installing a video camera in the garden. Through this project, Bethke aims to teach photography students about the impact that technology has had on the traditional field of photojournalism and give student scientists the opportunity to contribute to the global effort to help endangered species.