Above photo: Amber Scherber, Science teacher at Old Saybrook High School, introduced the thirteen students (top photo) who will be going to Honduras to participate in a biodiversity study of a great barrier reef. The students described what they hope to learn and the activities they will be responsible for completing. Topics included: Biodiversity research projects, ecological importance of the reef, coral bleaching, reef preservation, SCUBA diving, the culture of Honduras, and what previous student visitors learned while on an earlier trip. After the presentation, students submitted an Outreach Application. Action will be taken on the application at the next meeting. The following is a list of the participating students: Carrington Hartt, Kayla Holt, Chloe Ellinas, Megan Kapij, Tristan Novakowski, Eliza Scherber, Brett Bjorkman, Ian Mason, Griffin Noack, Kristina Alsante, Mackenzie Cart, and Kate Heiden.
Twelve students will be traveling to Honduras, in July, to participate in a two week workshop studying coral reefs and the ocean waters along the eastern coast of Honduras. This is a work/study event with college course credit given. This is not a holiday.
The group will look at and study the diaderma on the island of Roatan, off the Honduran coast and then move to the mainland to Tela, Honduras to study the coral reef and the effect of the declining diaderma on the coral.
The group will be trained in scuba diving so they will be able to examine the coral first hand.
We will have the group attend a Rotary meeting in the fall to report on the happenings on their adventure.
