Pro Peninsula Education Coordinator Wins Ocean Leadership Award! The Science Exchange: Sea Turtle Internships Sea Turtle Education Goes Multidisciplinary Get Involved with Pro Peninsula during Earth Month! Environmental Film Festival – A “Wild” Success

The Pro Peninsula Education Coordinator, Frances Kinney, was recently honored with an Ocean Science Leadership Award for Informal Teaching Excellence from the University of Southern California’s QuikSCience Challenge! Frances’ work to educate students about coastal conservation on a binational scale was recognized through the Ocean Science Leadership Award—Lynn Whitley, USC Director of Education, writes, “Frances stood out because of her experiences, qualifications, motivation, awareness, and enthusiasm for the ocean and educating its future guardians and stewards.”

Through the Ocean Connectors marine science education program, Frances works to teach important ocean conservation lessons to underserved students in both the US and Mexico. Frances has developed a unique and inspiring program model that focuses on migratory marine life as a means to teach environmental stewardship in conjunction with lessons in cultural awareness, demonstrating that we must unite across political boundaries to protect sea life.

The Ocean Leadership Award comes at an appropriate time, following Frances’ recent success with carrying out Ocean Connectors activities in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California Sur. In partnership with the organization Philanthropiece and Baja Bound Mexican Insurance, Ocean Connectors brought new and exciting information to the Laguna San Ignacio community for the first time in the program’s history. On March 22-23, Frances worked with students at “La Escuelita” to carry out educational presentations and letter writing exchanges, all focused on protecting the highly-migratory California gray whale. This species serves as an Ocean Connectors case study, uniting students from different backgrounds over their shared interest in coastal conservation. This recent gray whale program addition marks the culmination of about 2 years of Frances’ careful planning within the Ocean Connectors program. The visits to Laguna San Ignacio were met with resounding success, paving the way for more program growth in the future.

Frances works diligently to offer the Ocean Connectors program for free to 2,000 low-income students in San Diego and Mexico each year. Most of these students live just miles from the coast yet would not receive any marine science education whatsoever if not for Frances’ efforts. Frances’ genuine interest and concern for ocean health inspires others to make sustainable choices in their day to day lives, making Frances the ideal recipient of an Ocean Leadership Award. In her time at Pro Peninsula, Frances has more than doubled Ocean Connectors program participation and support, distinguishing her as an educational resource to the community at-large.

Congratulations Frances!

We are proud to welcome The Science Exchange as a new project of The Pro Peninsula portfolio at The Ocean Foundation! And the timing is perfect: The Science Exchange is currently seeking college students or recent graduates to participate in sea turtle research while earning academic credit! Because these internships are located are at sea turtle nesting beaches and foraging sites in Latin America, interns will learn Spanish, immerse themselves in the Latin culture, and get to travel to some of the world’s most beautiful places! Here’s what some of The Science Exchange interns have said about their experience: “Working on the beach was beautiful. My favorite part was releasing baby sea turtles and watching nesting females.” ~ Sarah in Mexico “This experience has truly changed my life.” ~ Jeff in Costa Rica

While having the time of their lives, interns also work very hard—duties include night patrols, egg incubation experiments, habitat mapping with SCUBA, tracking turtles from kayaks, educational outreach, and more. After several months of data collection, interns write scientific papers with help from The Science Exchange mentors. In fact, two Science Exchange interns will share their work at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Goa, India this year! The Science Exchange interns gain priceless real-life experience in the field of conservation research.

Everyone Can Participate in The Science Exchange!
Internship packages are customizable to suit students’ budgets, including: tuition, flights, room, board, Spanish classes, tours, insurance, etc. Dates are flexible and scholarships are available! If you are interested in becoming a Science Exchange intern please contact info@thescienceexchange.org.

To sponsor a student or contribute to The Science Exchange sea turtle conservation work, contact:
Katherine Comer Santos
The Science Exchange Director
Ph. (866) 519-9876
www.thescienceexchange.org
info@thescienceexchange.org

Todos Santos and Pescadero middle school students recently received a multidisciplinary introduction to science and leatherback sea turtle conservation by Patricia Baum of EcoEducadores Verde y Azul de B.C.S. and Sinades. This Project was supported through a grant from the Pro Peninsula fund at The Ocean Foundation, with funding received from the PADI Foundation and SIMA, through our new Friends of Sinades Fund. In class, students discussed sea turtle biology and specific problems facing pacific leatherback sea turtles. Students also studied and became involved with local sea turtle conservation efforts by ASUPMATOMA and Proyecto Todos Tortugueros, including olive ridley sea turtle releases, beach clean-ups, and recycling programs.

As part of the project, students attended field trips to ASUPMATOMA's Agua Blanca leatherback turtle incubation greenhouse (north of Todos Santos). During these trips, students watched intently as biologists weighed, measured, and released sea turtle hatchlings, reinforcing the science principals introduced during class. This year, students of the EcoEducadores also hosted a 3-day Leatherback Sea Turtle Symposium, including a mini-leatherback film festival, a poetry and drawing contest, and a panel discussion with biologists and conservation leaders from around the community. Over 100 eager students filled an auditorium on the final day of the Symposium; students shared their work, contest winners were recognized, and many participants received prizes.

School staff members were stunned by the project's overall success, indicated by a high level of student enthusiasm, a general "buzz" generated from the sea turtle release ceremonies, the creation of a large leatherback mural at a Todos Santos school entrance, and the impressive quality of the poetry and drawings produced by students. For more information about this project or the EcoEducadores Verde y Azul de B.C.S. please email Patricia Baum.

April is Earth Month—so there’s no better time to get involved with Pro Peninsula! Support your local community and contribute to environmental conservation by volunteering with us this month. All our volunteers make a valuable contribution to Pro Peninsula’s mission to conserve the natural resources throughout San Diego and the Baja California peninsula. Volunteers also learn important information and gain priceless experience in the environmental field. Check out the events below, and contact info@propeninsula.org to get involved today! Balboa Park Earth Fair Sunday, April 18th at Balboa Park in San Diego SDSU Earth Fair Thursday, April 22nd at San Diego State University

Can’t volunteer this month? Then grab a friend and just stop by the Pro Peninsula table to say “hello” during one of the Earth Fairs! We are happy to chat about other ways to get involved, and to share useful information about coastal conservation methods. We will also be selling Sea Turtle Adoptions, Pro Peninsula 100% organic cotton t-shirts, books, and more…meaning Earth Month could be your perfect opportunity to pick up some eco-friendly gifts for family and friends!

We can also use volunteer help at the Pro Peninsula office in downtown San Diego! For more information about volunteering or other outreach events, please contact info@propeninsula.org. We hope to see you out in the community during Earth Month!

Pro Peninsula set forth a fun gathering for hundreds of people interested in learning about the wild and scenic places close to home during the 2010 Wild & Scenic Film Festival. The great selection of films, event pre-social, Community Fair, and intermission made it possible for guests to network and meet some of the coolest organizations working within our own community. The Festival was an overall triumph: new members, exciting prizes, enlightening conversations, inspiring films, and happy event guests, all coming together to support Pro Peninsula's conservation work.

A total of 9 films were shown at the 2-day Festival, including the feature film Tapped, which generated a lot of discussion and suspicion about the bottled water industry in the US. Pro Peninsula was also fortunate to have filmmaker David McGuire debut a short clip on his ongoing documentation of Baja California conservation work. The clip featured sea turtles in Magdalena Bay, and served as a glimpse into Pro Peninsula's environmental work on the Baja California peninsula - in this case, sea turtle conservation. Pro Peninsula also debuted our original organizational video on the big screen for the first time! To view our video, produced by Skye Walker, click here.

Besides the amazing films, this fun-filled event also included a raffle, silent auction, and Community Fair. The Community Fair featured great informational booths from various local groups, including Allied Climbers of San Diego, San Diego Coastkeeper, Think Blue, Outdoor Outreach, as well as several event sponsors and supporters. Film Festival guests enjoyed the great taste of Sierra Nevada Beer and delicious Jersey's juice.

Point Loma Outfitting, our primary event sponsor, hosted the Pro Peninsula VIP party at their beautiful store in Liberty Station on March 24th, serving to thank all event sponsors and Pro Peninsula members for their support. Point Loma Outfitting generously donated 10% of all sales made during the VIP party, and served delicious cuisine and wine catered by Fiddler's Green Restaurant. The VIP party also featured unique music by DJ Carolina Aboumrad.

From all of Pro Peninsula...
Thank you to everyone who attended, supported, and volunteered to make the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival a success. A special thanks to this year's Event Assistant Coordinator, Rowena Serafez. To Pro Peninsula's new members, WELCOME! Thank you for furthering Pro Peninsula's mission to strengthen individual and community efforts to protect the natural environment of San Diego and the Baja California peninsula.

For more Film Festival information, please visit the Wild & Scenic website at www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org. If you attended the Film Festival and would like to share your comments, please contact gigi@propeninsula.org.