Seven students graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands Masters of Marine and Environmental Studies program this month despite significant challenges presented by COVID-19. These students are no strangers to adversity and in fact three of the graduates are part of what are lovingly call the “Hurricohort”, those who began their program just before hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Theirs was not an easy journey. Success was not guaranteed…it was won by doing the next hard thing each day. So join us as we celebrate them, these seven, who deserve to take a bow and relish what they have achieved.

Congresswoman Plaskett hosts a Distance Learning Webinar and has reached out to a few of the USVI’s top educators to share their strategies and techniques for distance learning including our own Virgin Island-Institute Science Education Research and Practice (VI-ISERP) Mentor Teacher, Ms. Michealrose Ravalier! As the 2020 St. Thomas District Teacher of the Year, she will offer insights into using home materials in science learning to boost engagement and strategies for leveraging educational technology.

“You are looking at one of the most unique sea turtle habitats in the world because the Brewers Bay and Hawksbill Cove turtle habitat is dominated by an artificial reef. We need to understand what it is about this environment that is attracting and holding so many juvenile hawksbill and green sea turtles. The support of donors like the Baird family is huge and much-needed for us to continue this crucial research.” Dr. Paul Jobsis

Already stressed coral reefs in the USVI have suffered through another coral bleaching event, surpassed only by the catastrophic 2005 bleaching event.