Field Trip Eco-Awareness

I've been blessed recently to involve Colegio Nueva Vida in the first local marine ecology awareness program through PADI and my friend Matt Wegner. The goal of the program is to educate the local student population about pollution control and caring for our local marine environment.

On February 25th, we took the freshman class to the North Coast Dive Center. After a short class on pollution control, Coral species, and an introduction to snorkel equipment - we took to the sea to explore the coral below and the coral re-production plan of our local diving community.
Thanks to our local Dive shop we were able to spend an afternoon out on a boat over three different under-water rock formations which harvest and host numerous forms of marine life. Snacks and all required equipment were provided at no-charge.
The kids were super stoked on the trip. Some of them had never even entered the ocean prior to this trip. In fact, a majority of Dominicans are so nervous around water we had to actually go to the houses of a few of the parents to receive permission for the kids to go. I claimed complete responsibility in at least two occasions. haha.

What excited me most about the program is that the education will continue through-out the year. As you can see in the under water picture - each planted and growing coral is tagged with a name of one of the students from our freshman class. Monthly, each student will receive a photo of their coral in order to see it's growth, but more specifically to encourage ownership in caring for the ocean that they all live soo close to. We are planning a return trip at the end of the year to see the progress of each student's coral.