Action | Student News
Bringing the Environment to Durham Elementary Schools
MEMs Volunteer Through the DEL Community Outreach
Program p.3
When the string had connected everyone in the chain, Kenny directed the children’s attention to the lesson. “Let’s look at how connected you all are. What will happen if I take someone out of there? What part of the chain should we take out?” The children decided to take out the spiders and insects. All spiders and insects dropped their strings, and the turtles had lost a vital part of their world.
In the second game, Hahaie, in purple headband, purple ponytail holder, purple striped shirt, and black and yellow crosstrainers, portrayed a sea turtle. Her classmates played more sea turtles and their related food and habitat, including crabs, seaweed, ocean, and jellyfish.
When the first links in the sea turtle food chain had been broken, Borchelt asked, “What happens to the turtles now?” The kindergartners responded, “They can’t eat!”
The children returned to their seats on the floor, cheering when told they could keep the critter pictures around their necks. A crab named Amelia scuttled, still in character, to the piece of tape that labeled her seat on the floor. When asked what had happened to the turtles in the game, she responded that turtles can’t survive without food: “If the food is healthy to the turtle and he can’t eat it, that’s not healthy.” Plastic bags are another problem, one of the boys noted with some prompting, because they can be mistaken for jellyfish.
“What are some other things that make life hard for sea turtles?” Kenney asked. “Take ten seconds to put on your thinking caps.” Amelia raised her hand, but forgot what she had intended to say. Nicolo, remembering his work with turtle hatchlings, explained that newborn turtles always walk toward bright light, and that you have to be careful about lights that are on when turtles are hatching. He also had a recommendation for car drivers who encounter newly hatched turtles in their path: “When you see a turtle while you’re driving in the car,” he exclaimed, “Jump out of the car and tell the turtle to stop!” Or, Kenney gently offered, you can stop your car and let the turtle keep going. Other suggestions: Don’t leave litter at the beach; pack it out or put it in trash cans. Another student offered a more difficult plan, to find seaweed and put it in the water for the turtles to eat. Borchelt nodded. “There are some ways we can help make sure that turtles have food to eat.”
These types of discussion are one of Vanessa Jordan’s favorite parts of volunteering. “It’s really rewarding to see the kids’ faces light up when they speak about conservation,” she says. “They get very excited when they find out they can help.” When the lesson, game, and discussion were over, it was time for a big thank-you to Kenney and Borchelt. After hugs and good-byes until next time, they returned to the Duke campus and their coursework.
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For information about this and other projects of the DEL Community Outreach program, call 919-613-8082 or e-mail del@nicholas.duke.edu.
Jean Lynch MEM’06 was the Nicholas School Student Communications Assistant in 2004-2005
photo captions:1. Colleen Kenney; 2. Sarah Borchelt; 3. Forest View Elementary Students