Concord High teacher to join ocean exploration mission aboard the Nautilus

CONCORD, N.C. (WBTV) – A teacher at Concord High School has been selected to sail aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s exploration vessel Nautilus.

Tori Hunt, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a science teacher at Concord High, will join the Nautilus team for four weeks in September as they explore Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a news release stated.

The PMNM is the largest marine-protected area in the U.S., covering over 1.5 million square kilometers. Hunt will join the team as an expedition communicator, according to information from Nautilus.

She is one of 16 of the 2023 Science Communication Fellows selected nationally from schools, science centers and non-profit organizations across 11 U.S. states and territories, the release stated.

“It is an absolute honor and a dream to sail aboard E/V Nautilus. This experience will forever shape me not only as an educator but as a person who has always dreamt of learning from the ocean,’’ Hunt said in a statement.

Fellows will join the team on different sea-going expeditions from May to December, exploring the Eastern Pacific near British Columbia and the Central Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian Islands, in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Ocean Exploration Trust was founded in 2008 by Dr. Robert Ballard to explore the ocean, seeking out new discoveries in the fields of geology, biology, maritime history and archaeology, the release stated.

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