Turtle Teaching = Totally Terrific

Today was the day a lot of us have been looking forward to: Teaching Day!  We spent this morning awaiting the arrival of 550 students ranging in age from kindergarten through high school who all came to learn about the sea turtle hospital.  Some of us were placed at the teaching stations in the hospital where the students could learn about the different sea turtle species, sea turtle anatomy, cold stunning, nesting, threats to sea turtles, and surgery success stories from the hospital.  The students were also able to peer into sick bay and walk through sea turtle bay where the rest of us were stationed to tell the stories of the individual sea turtles. It was fun to watch their excitement as we introduced them to the turtles.

Going into Thursday, we learned and practiced our presentations during reflection the night before. This morning, we went to our stations, armed with our new t-shirts from the hospital we have all been anxiously waiting to receive. We stood ready while students upon students poured into the main hallway of the The Karen Beasley Turtle Rescue &  Rehabilitation Center. At first, we got first and second graders who were very energetic and wanted to touch everything. They all kept shooting up their hands to ask all sorts of questions and tell stories about how they had encountered a sea turtle in the past. They surprisingly knew a lot about the information already, even at such a young age. Then, the age group jumped to sophomores through seniors in high school. It was a drastic and abrupt change that resulted in some quick adjustments to our presentations, but it was a good experience to teach to students of different age levels.


Having the chance to represent the hospital and run teaching day was a really special opportunity.  Throughout this week, we have all become very passionate about the hospital and the work that they do, so it was great to be able to share this passion with others. Education about environmental conservation and sea turtles has been a key component of our trip. After the week at the hospital learning a lot about sea turtles ourselves, today was an opportunity to pass on this knowledge to the students and positively influence them. Jean told us when we met her that we need to be ambassadors for the turtles and teach others how to protect them. We hope that today we were able to inspire the students to want to help the sea turtles in their futures. This teaching experience was valuable practice for educating our friends and family when we return home.

After a tiring day of teaching, we set out to the south point of the island to enjoy some time walking along the beach.  Together we looked for shells, took pictures, and sang while walking down the beach.  It was great to have some time on the beautiful island to just relax and enjoy each other's company. Of course, we picked up any plastic that we saw along the way.





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