Plastic Beach Project Teams up with Local School (Loads of Photos Inside)

At the beginning of the fall 2013 school year I was determined to get into the local schools of South Eleuthera to get students involved with my plastic research. As faith would have it I ran into the Geography teacher from the Preston H. Albury High School (shout out to Mrs. Joanna Parker) who was interested in conducting a comparative study between beaches for the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) coursework, which is a national exam all Bahamian high school seniors are required to take.  I briefly informed her of The Plastic Beach Project and our methodology. After that the rest was history.

During the month of October 2013 I had the pleasure of visiting the high school to deliver my plastic pollution presentation, which was a hit with all of the students from grades 10-12. They were blown away and had no idea how much plastic had a negative effect on the environment and their health. After wrapping up the talk I went into the study design for their course work and began to plan our field day. Initially 12-15 senior students who would be sitting the geography exam were supposed to visit the beach to collect data. The following day we went to the school to transport students to the beach and 32 yes 32 students from grades 10-12 showed up. It was INCREDIBLE!!  Even parents came out to support!! Due to our unexpected influx of students we had to take an additional two vehicles to our study sites.

The students surveyed two beaches in South Eleuthera: Airport Beach and Winding Bay Beach, and compared how debris levels varied between beaches. This was the largest amount of volunteers I had ever had on a beach. It worked out perfectly-8 students per transect. The educational programs team from the Cape Eleuthera Institute assisted in this venture and helped to make it a success. Students were impacted by the amount of debris discovered on the beaches and were excited to conduct more surveys! Once we returned to campus the students asked “So when are we going to another beach?’ It was so amazing to get local students conducting practical scientific research and it served as a credited assignment. On that beautiful October day we welcomed 32 young Bahamian marine scientists to the field, it was a beautiful feeling!

Photo Credit: Liam McAlpin and Kenzie Harpst