Animo Leadership Charter High School
Marine Biology & Environmental Club
Who are we? What do we do? What is our mission?
Who are the Participants?
The primary focus of the Animo Leadership Charter High School Marine Biology Club is the research, analysis, education and action campaign created around ocean plastic pollution and micro plastics. The club is affiliated with the LA Maritime Institute, and is primarily led by their mentor, Mark L. Friedman.
Our Demographics
The Marine Biology Club consists of students of Latinx Culture that come from low-income primarily immigrant families. Most of the students live in the community of Lennox and Inglewood and have seen first-hand the lack of bilingual resources in their Spanish-speaking community. With this as an incentive, all club members share an interest in serving their community through the dissemination of their knowledge on marine life, helping to end marine pollution, understanding global climate change, as well as other changes that can hopefully resonate with their community in future projects.
How do we conduct outreach for our educational program?
The club participates in numerous activities at which bilingual flyers and pamphlets are distributed. The students visit the beach and pier and inform local fishermen about the potential dangers in fish they caught off the Redondo Pier. Middle and High school classes from Lennox, as well as numerous parent meetings are presented with PowerPoints and informational pamphlets by our students. As a condition of membership ALL club members are mandated to learn about and participate in outreach activities twice annually that might also include: environmental and health fairs: Earth Day, Sea Faire, Roots & Shoots, South Bay Water & Harvest Festivals, etc.
Thousands of bilingual pamphlets are handed out annually and scores of hours are spent delivering our message (through PowerPoint presentations and a student produced video) to other students. We reach an estimated 4,000 plus students, families, fishermen and community residents annually with Seafood Watch cards, brochures from the Physicians for Social Responsibility (mercury impacts) and safe fish preparation. They have also presented at teacher workshops at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and annually at a minimum of 5 Earth Day events in addition to Lennox health fairs, community events, etc.
Thousands of bilingual pamphlets are handed out annually and scores of hours are spent delivering our message (through PowerPoint presentations and a student produced video) to other students. We reach an estimated 4,000 plus students, families, fishermen and community residents annually with Seafood Watch cards, brochures from the Physicians for Social Responsibility (mercury impacts) and safe fish preparation. They have also presented at teacher workshops at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and annually at a minimum of 5 Earth Day events in addition to Lennox health fairs, community events, etc.
What have we accomplished?
We carry out community wide educational efforts, speaking to youth and parents of Lennox, Inglewood and other nearby cities in their native language, Spanish, about the marine environment and their impact on it. We distribute thousands of brochures to residents and fishermen & fisherwomen about dangers of specific fish consumption, like White Croaker, caused by pollution/toxins emanating from land drainage & sewers. We now also discuss marine plastic pollution (macro and micro) and how to reduce it.
We develop leadership by increasing the number of students capable of presenting the PowerPoint and accompanying oral content. By students attending the Cabrillo and Long Beach Aquaria lectures, Natural History Museum’s First Fridays, Skeptic Society's Science Salon, and others we broaden students’ understanding of science- oceanography to molecular biology. Students participate in a 4-day research and adventure trip annually to Monterey Bay, San Diego Scripps Oceanographic Institute or USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island off the coast of LA.
Making presentations at Earth Day, health fairs, student clubs and parent events helps students develop speaking skills & increase environmental knowledge of and our mission. By training our newest members, we add strength because more students carry out major responsibility and assume club leadership. Members help several local, national and international High & Middle schools form similar educational/activist organizations. Now we also collaborate with other youth internationally on micro plastic research. We have weekly educationals at our mandatory Monday after-school club meetings. We’ve secured scores of scholarships & internships for members from: Coastal Studies School for Girls (Maine), Woodshole Oceanographic Institute, USC Wrigley Center (Catalina), UCLA, JPL, COSMOS, Earthwatch, USC Stem Cell research, etc. to help members advance towards a professional science career.
A Subcommittee of the club is currently engaged in a collaborative effort with Japanese Wakasa high school students from Obama City on the Sea of Japan. A team of Japanese students and our club are involved in research and data collection about microplastics in the surrounding oceans, beaches, harbors, watersheds and bays. The result of this collaborative effort, very unique among high school students, was exhibited at the Intel international and LA County science fairs in Los Angeles, Youth Ocean Plastics Summit sponsored by Algalita, and a teacher/student microplastics conference in Chileand forthcoming conferences in July, 2019 in Japan and Cuba.
Seven Seas Magazine write-up: https://www.joomag.com/mag/0745284001480988736?page=98
General City2Sea video: http://city2seascience.com/City2Sea/programs
We develop leadership by increasing the number of students capable of presenting the PowerPoint and accompanying oral content. By students attending the Cabrillo and Long Beach Aquaria lectures, Natural History Museum’s First Fridays, Skeptic Society's Science Salon, and others we broaden students’ understanding of science- oceanography to molecular biology. Students participate in a 4-day research and adventure trip annually to Monterey Bay, San Diego Scripps Oceanographic Institute or USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island off the coast of LA.
Making presentations at Earth Day, health fairs, student clubs and parent events helps students develop speaking skills & increase environmental knowledge of and our mission. By training our newest members, we add strength because more students carry out major responsibility and assume club leadership. Members help several local, national and international High & Middle schools form similar educational/activist organizations. Now we also collaborate with other youth internationally on micro plastic research. We have weekly educationals at our mandatory Monday after-school club meetings. We’ve secured scores of scholarships & internships for members from: Coastal Studies School for Girls (Maine), Woodshole Oceanographic Institute, USC Wrigley Center (Catalina), UCLA, JPL, COSMOS, Earthwatch, USC Stem Cell research, etc. to help members advance towards a professional science career.
A Subcommittee of the club is currently engaged in a collaborative effort with Japanese Wakasa high school students from Obama City on the Sea of Japan. A team of Japanese students and our club are involved in research and data collection about microplastics in the surrounding oceans, beaches, harbors, watersheds and bays. The result of this collaborative effort, very unique among high school students, was exhibited at the Intel international and LA County science fairs in Los Angeles, Youth Ocean Plastics Summit sponsored by Algalita, and a teacher/student microplastics conference in Chileand forthcoming conferences in July, 2019 in Japan and Cuba.
Seven Seas Magazine write-up: https://www.joomag.com/mag/0745284001480988736?page=98
General City2Sea video: http://city2seascience.com/City2Sea/programs
For more information contact Mark Friedman (Club Advisor) at [email protected] or call 310.350.7515
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