More Than $26,000 Awarded to Teachers for Marine Debris Prevention and Education
The NOAA Marine Debris Project Team at the University of the Virgin Islands is excited to announce that all seven Transfer Project Proposals submitted by USVI Educators were awarded funding!
The NOAA Marine Debris Prevention Grant through UVI provides the opportunity for teachers and students to develop projects to engage and educate the greater USVI community about marine debris problems and solutions. Projects will be guided by USVI teachers, in partnership with UVI Marine & Environmental Science graduate students and other community partners.
A total of $26,648 in project support were requested, but only $20,800 in NOAA Marine Debris Program funds were available. Fortunately, the Virgin Islands Institution for STEM Education Research & Practice (supported through Virgin Islands EPSCoR), has agreed to fund the difference ($5,848), allowing us to fully fund all project proposals that were received!
Debris can be found on beaches across the USVI.
The awardees are:
St. Croix
- Diving for Debris Paula Heller, Angelita Ortiz, Nikita Beck, Carolyn Courtien
- St. Croix Educational Complex Working to Reduce Marine Debris Ann Marie Gibbs, Risa GordanDianne Theophilus, Freda Jean Garraez, Marcia Taylor, Caroline Potts
St. Thomas
- Keeping it Clean for 2017 –Campus-Wide Recycling Program Juelis Hodge, Topaze Lake, Kristen Ewen, Vernita Smith
- A Two-Pronged Approach to Marine Debris Activism: Developing Lange Arts and Science Skills for Children in Grades 9 & 10 through Acquisition of Beach Cleanup Data and Establishment of Public Awareness Projects Lucinda Prosterman, Adam Quant, Lora Johansen, Tucker Stone
- Implementing public high school-based research and science communication projects on marine debris in a NOAA priority watershed Vernon Callwood, Katharine Egan, and Amelie Jensen
- Outreach is Within Reach Carol Wallace, Alexandra Gutting, Elizabeth Smith
- Increasing Awareness of the Marine Debris Problem on St. Thomas through Creating and Displaying Art made from Marine Debris Cecile Penn, Akacia Halliday
Congratulations to all awardees! We are so excited to see their projects succeed.
To learn more about the problem of marine debris in the USVI read about it here and here