This summer I visited Great Wolf Lodge as part of North Carolina New School’s STEM Industry Day. Teachers whose schools focus on STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — were invited to see workplaces that utilize skills from those disciplines in their day-to-day operations.

As an English teacher, I wondered where I would fit in on a day focused in these disciplines, but I was excited to visit the indoor water park. It reminded me of my summers in high school when I practically lived at the pool.

During our tour of the facility, our guide discussed the science behind the water filtration and pump systems that kept the water clean and flowing. As he was explaining how they calculate how much chlorine is needed to counteract the effects of all those swimmers, I was reminded of all the math word problems I had despised in high school. If I could have seen more real world applications like this, I would have paid more attention!

I thought about the design process that the park employees used when they faced a challenge at the park, like how to work around a broken air pump so that the wave pool could remain open to visitors. They identified a problem, asked questions, shared and implemented ideas, found a solution, received feedback and continued to improve on the solution.

After our visit, another teacher and I began some impromptu planning on collaborative projects that could culminate in a visit to the park. Maybe we could put a unit together where teams of students would run a fictional park. Math and science could focus on the calculations and chemicals needed to run the park, social studies could focus on the rules and regulations of such a park, and language arts could focus on the persuasive writing for the park’s advertising and marketing. We were buzzing with new ideas to incorporate our learning from the day into our lessons.

I realized after I returned from our visit, that I no longer felt separate from the other disciplines. This look behind the scenes at Great Wolf Lodge not only showed me the kinds of skills and knowledge that an employee at the site would need, but also showed me how I could better fit into a STEM environment using the design process.

Sarah Bruckner Wall will teach English at Pitt County Early College High School when the school opens to students this fall. She previously taught at Lenoir County Early College High School for six years.