This Diné high school science teacher will sail on 2 ocean research expeditions this summer

Born in Chinle, Arizona, Kim Etsitty spends much of her year teaching science at Navajo Pine High School in New Mexico. That is, until summer recess. But she won’t be taking a break this year. Instead of vacationing, Etsitty will sail the high seas on a pair of research expeditions around the globe.

“I’ll just be tired, but it’s gonna be an exciting summer for sure,” said Etsitty. “We created some stickers that represent our community, and I’m going to send those off — and that way they’ll have a piece of us on their water bottle.”

Starting in June, Etsitty will hop aboard the 223-foot research vessel, Nautilus, along with the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust. She’ll livestream her journey mapping the seafloor from Hawaii to Guam.

Then in July, Etsitty is heading toward the Arctic with the National Geographic Society where she’ll explore polar caps near Greenland and Iceland. She’s among three dozen hand-picked Grosvenor Teacher fellows participating this summer.

For Etsitty, who is returning to Nautilus as a lead science communication fellow to help mentor new recruits following her 2024 maiden voyage, she was no more than 90 miles away from the coastline.

“This time, the furthest I will be away from land is about 1,800 miles, like the Navajo Nation to Florida,” added Etsitty. “Being out there, you just become so vulnerable. It’s exciting, but also makes me very anxious.”

Despite being at sea only a handful of times, Etsitty shares why the Diné have ties to it.

“A lot of times we wear jewelry — coral or abalone shell — and we don’t really talk about where it came from,” she explained, “so I was able to like tie in a lot of stories about why Navajo people wear coral and this ancient ocean that once was here, but now it’s dry land.”

She’ll set foot on Navajoland again — before the new school year begins.