Caption: In picture some of the snorkel club students with Assistant Snorkel Club Instructor and Former Snorkel Club Student TJ Lake.
Three Participants Graduate as Junior Rangers
The St. Maarten Nature Foundation Snorkel Club came to an end recently with the graduation of some sixteen students. Three snorkel Club members who have been attending for numerous years, Hailey and Britney Beauperthuy and Theodore Wilson graduated as Junior Rangers.
The Nature Foundation, in a continued effort to educate the youth on conservation issues and stress the important role the youth plays in the future of nature conservation on this island, established the Snorkel Club program with the aim of educating local youth in snorkelling skills and marine conservation. Children were given a number of lessons with each lesson consisting of both theory and practical elements. "Educating the youth on the environment is one of the most important tasks of the Nature Foundation. It is through educating the children that will eventually inhirit this island that vwe can ensure true development in the sustainable sense while conserving our natural environment," read a Nature Foundation statement. The Nature Foundation will also be partnering with Be The Change St. Maarten and Naturalist and author Mark Yokoyama in introducing under privileged youth to the environment and conservation activities.
Lessons included snorkelling skills, marine naturalist courses, and introduction to SCUBA diving, hiking tours, and a special closing party