Cape Girardeau teacher among 12 to travel to South Korea

Central High School teacher Andy Tilmon will get a firsthand look at geopolitics when he travels to Seoul, South Korea, in June.

Selected by Joseph Stoltman, professor of geography and science education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich., the trip runs from June 25 to July 2, and is hosted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation in Seoul. Fourteen people from around the nation will be going, including 12 Advanced Placement human geography teachers, a map librarian and Stoltman.

"I'm really excited because this is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but more importantly, I'm going to be bringing home a wealth of knowledge ... and [helping students] broaden their horizons," Tilmon said.

AP human geography covers a variety of topics that look at why things are where they are, why industries locate in certain places, and how the world is interconnected and interdependent, Tilmon said. With advanced placement courses, students can take a test at the end of the year to earn college credit, and have the experience of taking a college-level course.

"The way I sell this class is that it explains everything," Tilmon said.

The journey will give Til­mon a chance to see and experience things that go along with what he's teaching.

Shannon White, a geospatial extension specialist at the University of Missouri and coordinator of the Missouri Geographic Alliance, nominated Tilmon for the trip. The alliance is a grassroots network of elementary and secondary educators, university instructors, geography professionals and people dedicated to geographic literacy in Missouri, according to the MU and alliance websites.

Tilmon, who is wrapping up his second year of teaching AP human geography, said he found out about the trip through the alliance, which he has been affiliated with for about two years, but he didn't think he'd get chosen.

"In reality, I actually gave up hope I was going to get it," he said, adding that he got his invitation the next day.

In an email to the Southeast Missourian, White wrote she supported Tilmon's application because he's an "innovative and energetic geography educator. He opens up the world to his students through his classroom, whether he is teaching history or geography," she wrote. He's also been a leader in the Missouri Geography Alliance.

Only a few schools in Missouri offer AP human geography, and two of them are in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Jackson High School teacher Mike Tornetto also teaches the course, but is not taking the trip, Jackson director of foundation/communications Merideth Pobst said.

Among other activities, the trip will feature a tour of Seoul, visiting an industrial area, suburbs and traditional cities; a field study day in the Demilitarized Zone, a kind of no man's land between North and South Korea created after the Korean War, which divided the two countries; Panmunjom Village, where Korean War peace talks were held, resulting in the armistice; and a field study to the islands of Dokdo and Ulleungdo.

Stoltman said he took his first group to South Korea in 2009. Over the years, he's varied the mixture of travelers to include teachers and textbook authors in varying numbers.

His intention is to give teachers an enriched view of geography by offering them a chance to visit another country, meet people who live there and come back and share what they've learned with students.

"[In] the AP human geography course, there is a unit on political geography. ... South Korea is an exceptionally good place to look at geopolitics," Stoltman said. "It's really one country in two parts. ... [Students] can look across into the DMZ, and that encourages them to ask questions of the South Koreans, who in many ways still look upon the peninsula and being a unified country, and many would like to see reunification between North and South, but the political differences are so great it probably won't happen for some time."

On their visit to Panmunjom Village, Stoltman said participants will witness the substantial military buildup along the DMZ. "If everything is good," he said, "we get to take a walking trip, escorted by Korean or U.S. military personnel, through the buildings where the peace talks were held. They can't take pictures or interact with soldiers of the North," as anything can be "provocative."

"When you're there, you really feel [the tension]," Stoltman said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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