SEA Creatures
SEA Creatures is a new afterschool program running in select Saint Lucia schools during the first term of the 2012-2013 school year.
In May 2012, hundreds of Form 3 and 4 students from Castries Comprehensive, George Charles, Clendon Mason Memorial, Vieux Fort Technical, and Soufriere Comprehensive secondary schools applied and interviewed to be a SEA Creatures Program Leader, otherwise known as SEA Stars. The 35 students who were chosen were then invited to participate in a Leadership Training Workshop (given by RISE St. Lucia), a 5 day camping trip at Forestry’s Des Cartier Rainforest Ecolodge (sponsored by LUCELEC), and several other small group learning sessions throughout the summer.
The SEA Stars are now charged with leading afterschool programs for primary school students in their areas. These environmental clubs will hopefully lead and inspire a new generation of students who are interested in their local and global environment.
This year’s theme is BIODIVERSITY MATTERS! – Each lesson will have some relation to Saint Lucia’s Biodiversity – that is to say, plants and animals – and how we can protect it. The following activities are specifically written for Saint Lucian students, but anyone may them for use in their classrooms/programs.
Activity 1: Upcycled Name Necklaces
Activity 2: Coral Reefs (TV + Mutualistic Racing + Acting like a Polyp)
Kids coloring their gloves
Activity 3: Making Marine Fish
Project Watershed
St. Lucia Watershed Protection
Ciceron Secondary School
We’re All in this Watershed Together
The students in this project received a Biodiversity Award from the St. Lucia government in August, 2005! They worked to reduce trash and erosion in their watershed and plan for more sustainable development. Their watershed also contains banana plantations, so they continue to learn about best practices in agriculture to minimize soil erosion and deterioration of the water quality by agricultural chemicals, monitored the water quality and planted trees to reduce erosion. They also received agricultural awards for their work! After spending many hours cleaning up trash along the stream banks and around the school, the students in initiated a Litter Patrol to help increase awareness throughout the school community about the problems of littering. The local electric utility, LUCELEC, is a proud sponsor of this program!
Interview on St. Lucia Radio
An interview from St. Lucia radio on a project we are collaborating with in Fond D’or watershed/ Mabouya Valley, St Lucia. Cornelius Isaac is the project manager and our colleague and partner.
View Watershed Project Pictures ERROR for viewing pictures
Education
Environmental Education Training for Educators
Castries, Laborie, and Piaye, St. Lucia
An essential part of providing sustainability to our mission is to also engage the teachers and those who teach the teachers. Therefore, through a partnership with Project Learning Tree in Washington, DC, we offered training workshops in St. Lucia in environmental education methods and activities for teachers, government officials and local Peace Corps volunteers. PLT provides activity books for everyone who participates in their workshops. To date, 42 people have participated in these workshops, partially sponsored by the Sustainable Development Unit of the St. Lucia Ministry of Planning, Housing and Environment.
Sewage Discharge
Reducing Sewage Discharge into the Bay
Laborie, St. Lucia
The fishing village of Laborie is situated around a beautiful bay full of shallow reefs harmed by sewage discharge into the bay. The goal of our project is to collaborate with Laborie Community Development Organization and the Environment Culture and Heritage Organization of Laborie (ECHO Lab) to teach the children how to test the water and create model sewage treatment wetlands that can be installed throughout the community, particularly near the bay. Simple wastewater gardens can be very effective in removing nutrients and bacteria from the water, but the gardens require an impermeable liner which is too expensive for local Laborie residents to afford, therefore the students in the UNESCO club at Laborie Girls Primary are experimenting with different recycled materials to create the liners, after which the girls will install a model wastewater garden at their school.
