University of Montevallo Making an Impact in the Community with Severe Weather Season Approaching

March 9, 2026

The Predict, Prepare, Protect – Math Against Natural Disasters event recently hosted at Calera Middle School on Weather Preparedness Day grew directly out of a summer professional development workshop organized by STEMMing The Tide on the University of Montevallo campus in July 2025.

This event helped inform the community, sharing information about natural disasters and providing approximately 300 students (and their families) with emergency preparedness kits. Each kit included a waterproof bag, first-aid kit, thermal blanket, flashlight, batteries, high-visibility paper, permanent markers and an emergency whistle. Event collaborators included Kylie Kerr, a seventh-grade math teacher at Calera Middle School and a 2018 UM graduate, Joyce Jones and Stephanie Williams from the Office of Engaged Education and Public Service at UM, and Dr. Withrow Newell, a family and consumer sciences professor at UM.

“I was really fortunate to participate in the professional development at the University of Montevallo,” Kerr said. “I was partnered up with Stephanie at the workshop. We came up with this to serve our community and also incorporate math into preparing for natural disasters and severe weather that, unfortunately, will impact my students at some point.”

Kerr said her idea came from a desire to help her students be prepared for potential tornado outbreaks, similar to the April 2011 outbreak, which have relatively high statistical odds in the state of Alabama compared to other regions in the country.

“I know being a student at that time (in April 2011) I wasn’t sure how to be prepared and I really relied on the adults in my life,” Kerr said. “I know that I could have been more prepared even then as a high schooler. I want my students to have that start even earlier, being prepared and knowing how to advocate for themselves and care for themselves and their families, when potentially they can’t reach anybody else.”

Led by Dr. Kate Hayden, an assistant professor of chemistry at UM, STEMMing the Tide supports educators in developing relevant, citizen science–focused learning experiences that help students meet state learning outcomes while becoming informed, engaged agents of change in their schools and communities. Projects developed through the workshop emphasize applied data analysis, interdisciplinary problem-solving and civic engagement. Lead collaborators from the University for STEMMing the Tide include Dr. Danielle Jennings, a professor of environmental science at UM, and Dr. Reggie Holifield, associate director of TRIO Upward Bound.

The STEMMing the Tide workshop brought together K–12 educators, academic researchers and community partners to collaboratively design classroom-ready, place-based STEM projects that address real community needs. The Calera Middle School event represents one such project implementation, translating summer collaboration into hands-on student learning focused on emergency preparedness, risk assessment and real-world applications of mathematics.

Funding for this project is supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, with additional material and logistical support provided through UM’s Office of Engaged Education and Public Service.

The University continues to offer professional development opportunities through STEMMing the Tide monthly, connecting local educators with researchers, community agencies and grant funding opportunities. Learn more at https://stemmingthetide.weebly.com/.