Hilary Turko, BEd, BPE

Personal info

I moved to Fort Smith in 2008 and taught at the high school for several years. After a couple of years home with my children, I began working at ARI in Spring 2018. I have lived and travelled around the world and because of that, love to try new things! One of my favourite things about my outreach job is that I get to connect with youth in my region and make learning fun by bringing them exciting, hands-on STEM activities.

I am a life-long learner and enjoy working with educators to develop meaningful curricular experiences for students. Experiential, inquiry-based learning is a must for all students and STEM programming in our schools is the perfect way to introduce our youth to real-world challenges.

Skills and expertise

For the past several years, teaching and outreach have been my main work focus. I also own a small business and each spring I operate and manage a 6500 square foot greenhouse, growing bedding and indoor plants and produce for our community. As we move towards a future requiring more STEM knowledge and experience in the workforce, it is important that we give our youth opportunities to engage in meaningful, hands-on learning experiences to equip them with the skills and mindsets they will need.

Current Project

• ARI STEM Outreach – I work with educators and professionals to engage our youth in STEM subjects. I encourage them to make connections between our local and scientific knowledge and coordinate family-friendly community events and presentations by researchers working in our region.