Grant: 18-035E
Project Title: Teens for Turtles
Project Manager: Debbi Stone
Organization: The Florida Aquarium (Non-Profit Organization)
Grant Amount: $9,580.00
Completion Date: 2020-10-07
Summary: Teens for Turtles is a yearlong program that promotes sea turtle awareness and action, reaching up to 10,000 middle and high school students, and 12 teachers in the Tampa Bay region (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco Counties) during the 2018-19 school year. The Florida Aquarium (FLAQ) will recruit 12 middle and high school science teachers to participate, and each teacher will select three students to serve as Teens for Turtles team leaders. To ensure that underserved students participate, at least half of partner schools will be Title I. Teens for Turtles will result in 12 Teen Teams (three students per team) designing and implementing a service learning project that supports sea turtle conservation and fosters positive conservation behaviors. The components of the project include: A three-hour teacher education workshop for 12 middle and high school teachers; A teen training day for 36 middle and high school students; 12 implemented service learning projects that share critical content about from the FWCC Marine Turtle Protection Program Goals; and a Teens for Turtles Conference that brings teachers and students together with environmental professionals who work with sea turtles, such as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to provide feedback to students as well as providing suggestions on continuing work beyond the scope of the grant. The experts will share knowledge about sea turtle protection as well as career options to provide a pathway to helping with sea turtles as a professional career.
Results: