Island Academy Coral Crusaders

My 12-year-old and I are on an experimental year in Honduras. The intention of our time here has been to slow down, be fully present with one another while stewarding a slice of jungle, and simplifying life. I want him to have a wide-angle perspective of living outside of the box and cultivate a sense of the interconnectedness of not only all humans but all of nature.

I have been volunteering at his school, running an ELA program where we read novels and foster critical thinking through discussion and creative writing projects. It has sparked lots of ideas for engagement with the kids outside of the building walls where we have the ocean as an additional, and extraordinary, classroom. There is a coral reef nursery here and a volunteer program to help care for the fledgling corals. I am working to create a coral club to get our kids hands-on in conservation and environmental studies. In order to do this, they need to have a scuba certification, which costs money. We have a dive shop willing to host but still need funding to get the kids where they need to be in order to do the underwater work with the corals. The idea is to start with 7th and 8th grade so the kids can continue to do this work through high school (and beyond). Dream of dreams, maybe this becomes an island-wide initiative. Not only does being in the ocean working directly with existing conservation programs lay a foundation for our future, it offers a career path and sparks passion in the hearts of the generation that is inheriting this planet in the midst of climate crisis. Help us inspire and build a team of future stewards of our oceans!!!!!