Once again Educational Programs has been out having a blast, all the while teaching and learning in the field.

This time, four high school boys and their chaperone teacher Melissa Sullivan visited us all the way from Pacific Ridge High School in Carlsbad, California. The group was with us for twelve days, and we got to spend much of their time working with researchers in the field or in the lab. Expecting to come here and experience nothing more than white sand beaches, the students were surprised by how much valuable knowledge they had learned by the end of their stay here. They left happy knowing that they had gotten to know some of the finer details of the real Bahamas and some of the major challenges and opportunities of the area.

A highlight in the program for the students was getting to visit two local festivals, Pineapple fest in Gregory Town and Conch Fest in Deep Creek. Another highlight was the harvesting and filleting of one hundred and thirty eight delicious home grown Cobia, which we subsequently all enjoyed in the dining hall along with the rest of the community.

Throughout their stay, the students and teacher from Pacific Ridge became more and more involved with our way of thinking and seeing the world. I feel confident saying that by the end of their trip, the students had experienced a fundamental shift in how they saw The Bahamas, and environmental issues around the world for that matter.

The Educational Programs  would like to send out a big thank you to the Pacific Ridgers for being such an awesome and interested group, and we hope you will come back and visit us sometime. As you say Pac Ridge, you guys are ‘boss’.