SJHS graduate selected as Fulbright Scholar
Erin Fedewa, a 2008 graduate of St. Johns High School, is heading to Trinidad and Tobago in February as a Fulbright Scholar, doing research in marine sciences, specifically fisheries.
Fedewa says she discovered her passion for fisheries and marine biology during a summer internship at Shedd’s Aquarium in Chicago that she completed the summer before her senior year at SJHS.
Following graduation she studied marine science at the University of South Carolina. While at USC she was a fouryear member of the cross country team, starting for three years, and was an active member of a marine science club where she did outreach programs at nearby schools. In her “spare time” she did independent research in the lab during all four years, and founded a “Green Initiative Committee” that worked diligently to encourage others to recycle, focusing on sustainability projects.
Through her work in this area, Fedewa was awarded a $10,000 grant to create the university’s first “carbon neutral” basketball game. She organized students to plant trees to offset the carbon emissions from one basketball game.
During the summer before her senior year at USC, Fedewa worked under scholarship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and completed research on bluefin tunas. She worked on identifying their age through their ear bones, called otoliths. She explains how these ear bones are like rings on trees, allowing humans to determine their age and growth over time.
Fedewa’s passion for marine science and sustainability were instrumental in her receiving a Udall national scholarship for $7,000 and NOAA’s Hollings Scholarship for $16,000.
As she approached graduation from USC she began to look at master’s programs across the country. Through her search efforts she discovered a professor at Oregon State University who was looking for a graduate assistant for a research project. Having never been to Oregon, Fedewa reached out to the professor and within a week she was offered an opportunity to work with the professor, completing research while obtaining her master’s degree in May 2015, under scholarship.
Prior to her graduation from OSU, Fedewa was encouraged, by her sister, Lauren, to apply to become a Fulbright Scholar. After carefully researching the Fulbright program, Fedewa determined that her best chance of being accepted was to apply for a research program in Trinidad and Tobago, an island nation just north of Venezuela in South America.
Following graduation from OSU, Fedewa took a temporary research job in Alabama with a team doing research in the Gulf of Mexico. During her work there, she received word that she had been accepted as a Fulbright Scholar. She plans to return to Oregon this month to complete work on a presentation for a conference in Alaska before beginning work in Trinidad and Tobago.
Fedewa credits her educational experiences at St. Johns Public Schools for preparing her for these experiences and her future, stating that “always having something going on other than academics just teaches you how to manage stress so much better.” While in high school Fedewa was involved in numerous extracurricular activities, and she credits all of her teachers for their support.
“I think St. Johns has so many amazing teachers,” she says, “and I had so many great experiences with so many teachers. They really encouraged us to pursue our passions and are really supportive.”
When asked what advice she would give younger students she says to “experience and experiment; keep an open door to new opportunities and experiences.” She says students should have “the ability to keep an open mind and try a lot of different things, take a lot of different classes, and get involved in a lot of different organizations, it really rounds you out as a person.” She goes on to say that it is important to “meet a lot of people rather than just staying with one group and just doing one thing.”
St. Johns Public Schools is proud of our graduate and Fulbright Scholar, Erin Fedewa. She is the daughter of Tom Fedewa and Kristine Ranger.
City releases draft of 5-year Recreation Plan
The City of St. Johns has released the draft copy of the 2016-2020 Parks and Recreation 5 Year Master Plan. The Plan was prepared by RJM Design.
Please email any comments or suggestions to: bschafer@ci.saint-johns.mi.us.
VanRooyen named Chair of Emergency Medicine
Interim Emergency Medicine Chair Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, has been appointed chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Health Care in Boston, effective January 1.
VanRooyen has been serving as interim chair since January 1, 2015, when Ron M. Walls, MD, assumed the role of BWHC executive vice president and chief operating officer. As interim chair, VanRooyen and the Emergency Department (ED) team have launched several new initiatives including the integration of Partners eCare, the expansion of global partnerships and the design of an expanded ED with a new Oncology Emergency Care Unit, a plan set for completion in 2017.
VanRooyen, who joined the Brigham in 2004 as an emergency medicine physician, is a professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of Global Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He co-founded and directs the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), the largest academic and research center of its kind, focused on improving humanitarian strategies for relief in regions affected by war and disaster. He also founded and directs the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard (HAH), a Harvard-wide educational effort designed to advance humanitarian professionalism and develop the next generation of humanitarian leadership.
VanRooyen’s commitment to humanitarian work began long before he joined the Brigham family. Upon completing his residency in 1991, he began working with NGOs in conflict settings, such as Somalia, to advance emergency medical care. For the next two decades, he worked in some of the world’s most active conflict zones and disaster settings, including Sudan, Bosnia, Rwanda, North Korea, Iraq and Haiti. Through his work abroad, VanRooyen became further convinced that the field of humanitarian aid must create an evidence base and a professional pathway to advance quality and efficiency in the field.
Domestically, he worked with the American Red Cross to provide relief assistance at the site of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. He also helped to coordinate the American Red Cross public health response to Hurricane Katrina and worked with the Navajo and Apache tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.
“Dr. VanRooyen’s leadership and experience in the fields of global health and emergency medicine are unparalleled,” said Betsy Nabel, MD, BWHC president. “He is recognized by his colleagues as an outstanding leader with an unwavering commitment to emergency medicine, training the next generation of emergency medicine clinicians and providing superb compassionate care to patients and families. I look forward to a continued tradition of service to our mission in the department under his guidance.”
Mike is a graduate of St. Johns High School. He earned his MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit and his MPH from the University of Illinois in Chicago.