Marine biology outreach seeks to inspire youth – Saipan Tribune

Feb. 4 was a busy day for Valeri Lapacek.

A University of Guam master of science in Biology candidate and University of Guam Sea Grant fellow, Lapacek was hosting a community outreach called A Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist.

During the outreach, Lapacek taught kids about what marine biologists do, shared her excitement about the ocean and its inhabitants, and educated them about the importance of corals.

I am trying to spark passion and excitement in the participants for coral reefs. In order to increase conservation and protection, people must care about the environment, said Lapacek. If you dont find it exciting or you dont know much about the ocean, why would you want to protect it?

Sea Grant fellowsUOG graduate students receiving funds to support their researchmust design and implement outreach activities as part of their proposed work plans.

The five-hour Day in the Life at UOGs Marine Lab included tasks that a marine biologist may perform regularly. Youth participants, ages 7 to 15 years old, observed jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and starfish in touch tanks, practicing survey techniques used to describe and monitor organisms. They also spent a few hours doing lab work.

At one station, kids were able to dissect a coral polyp and examine its eggsall while looking through a microscope. The other station allowed kids to grind up coral tissue into a slurry, make a microscope slide, and use a microscope to look for tiny algae cells that live in coral tissue, said Lapacek.

The coral tissue lab stations were particularly important to Lapacek, who researches the reproductive biology of Guams staghornAcroporacoral. She examines how coral health impacts, such as bleaching events, impact the staghorn corals ability to reproduce efficiently.

Community collaboration

A Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist was a collaboration between Sea Grants Turtle Education Outreach Interns, informally known as T-Squad, Sea Grant faculty Marie Auyong, and Big Brothers Big Sisters Guam.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Guam is a nonprofit agency that matches children (Littles) facing adversity with adult Big brothers or sisters. The organization also manages an AmeriCorps cohort of volunteers based at school and community sites.

In a nutshell, we match volunteer role models with youth for a one-to-one mentoring relationship. We provide case management support for the matches and we plan regular enrichment activities for the program participants, says BBBSG executive director Vanessa Estella.

Lapacek chose to work with this organization for a few specific reasons.

First, I was able to target two audiences:kids,and young adults. Secondly, the BBBSG pairs had to work together as a team to complete the tasks, since most of the activities were challenging, said Lapacek.

The importance of this outreach event resounded heavily with T-squad interns and BBBSG volunteers.

Outreaches like these that expose youth to different careers could allowthemto start developing dreams and start thinking about the kind of future they could have someday, said T-squad intern and junior biology major Marcel Jardeleza. This event was the definition of bringing science to the people.

BBBSG AmeriCorps volunteer Domini Prudente said, Kids experienced a new world of creatures that piqued their curiosity. This event also allowed them to experience socializing with intellectuals and make new friends through the event.

For more information about Sea Grant fellows or how to design science-based community education events, contact Marie Auyong at auyongm@triton.uog.edu.(UOG)

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Marine biology outreach seeks to inspire youth - Saipan Tribune