First-grade teacher Denise Deghi will travel to the Bahamas on a well-deserved trip.

It’s not for vacation. She actually will still be teaching her students all the way here at the San Mateo Park Math and Science Magnet School.

Deghi is among just 10 educators nationwide chosen for the Wells Fargo Earthwatch Fellowship this school year, according to a news release from the bank.

The program will help her teach students and the world about the effects of climate change on coral reefs.

She will be on San Salvador Island from Feb. 23 to March 1, conducting hands-on research with scientists John Rollino, Garrit Smith and Thomas McGrath, who are in their 14th year studying coral reefs.

Through an interactive Web site and live conferencing, she will share her field experiences and photos with her students and classrooms around the country.

Her students and others elsewhere will also be able to talk to her and ask questions.

The live feed will be on www.earthwatch2.org/LFF/Rollino on Feb. 28.

I’ll have a report the following day on how it went. It should be really interesting to see a teacher lead a class from thousands of miles away and in the Bahamas to boot!

Apparently, her whole school is gearing up for the remote lesson.

“Denise’s vast experience with diving the reefs around the world and her devotion to education makes her the perfect candidate for this experience,” Molly Barton, the school’s principal, said in the Wells Fargo release. ”Our students are already planning questions to ask her in her blog, and we are setting up the technology to have live video feeds to the school with the project. We will be celebrating ‘The Week of the Reef’ with special art and environmental awareness projects. It’s a very exciting time to be at San Mateo Park School.”

The Earthwatch program picks teachers based on their enthusiasm for education and ability to translate an adventurous field experience to their classroom, colleagues and community. Since 2006, 20 teachers have earned fellowships.

On the program’s Web site, Deghi said: “I love being in the position of sharing my love of the ocean and undersea life with my students. I am an avid scuba diver and enjoy exploring the world’s finest reefs and documenting my activities to inform and inspire my students.

“This expedition is very special to me because it incorporates my passions as well as it is a homecoming of sorts for me since I attended high school in the Bahamas where my love of ocean life began.”