Acmetonia Primary School teacher McCall Emerick often looks for opportunities for grant funding and new opportunities for students and teachers in the Allegheny Valley School District.

So when the chance to attend a conference at Disneyland in California arose, the sixth grade science teacher submitted an application to learn more.

On May 5, Emerick was recognized as one of the 100 Disney Imagination Campus Teachers at Disneyland. Teachers nationwide submitted stories on how they are using imagination-powered learning in their communities, she said.

For her application essay, Emerick wrote about her farm-to-table and tank-to-table programs in her classroom. She said the tank-to-table program teaches students about the concept of aquaponic farming. Students learn how plants can be grown in water environments, such as a fish tank, while fish fertilize plants as they grow.

“It was another way of having students grow something in a different medium,” Emerick said.

The projects enable Emerick to focus on a more flexible learning environment, she said, and it brings the outdoors inside. Students also get to try healthy food options with what they grow in class.

“And then I was fortunate enough to win, which was amazing,” she said.

During her four days at Disneyland, teachers learned about roller- coaster physics, fireworks design, leadership, teamwork, theme park planning and other ideas for lessons to implement in their classrooms.

“Not only did I get the Disney way of doing things, but I got to connect with a lot of really awesome people,” she said.

One of the teachers she connected with was Highlands Middle School teacher Jennifer Kosior, another of the three educators selected from Pennsylvania. The 100 winners were selected from more than 7,900 applications nationwide.

Emerick plans to implement the thrill ride lesson with physics components for an upcoming summer camp lesson at Acmetonia. Students will build the thrill ride — “It’s kind of like a marble run on steroids,” she said — and then pitch it to younger students.

She said she also would like to implement a scavenger hunt type of activity for staff development, for educators to work with each other and get to know their building. Teachers participated in a theme park scavenger hunt at Disneyland, something that was fun to compete in, she said.

Acmetonia Principal Greg Heavner said Emerick’s efforts will pay off for teachers schoolwide.

“She is really our go-to science person in sixth grade,” he said. “She’s always looking to find innovative ways to teach science.”

He said Emerick is heavily involved in school functions, and her classroom is engaging and interactive for students.

“She is definitely always willing to learn more with her pedagogy of science,” he said.

At Disneyland, teachers also marched in a parade — something Emerick said was very rewarding, seeing people line the parade route cheering, smiling and saying thank you to educators they didn’t know.

“It was just amazing to see so many people take time out of their family vacations … to say thank you,” Emerick said.

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