2008 Woodie Awards
Environment studied at St. Kitts and Nevis
Donald Thomann
Issue date: 7/3/08 Section: News
Recently back from a service-learning trip to the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, students from the President's Scholars Program described the experience as successful and enlightening.
"This year we focused on environmental issues and policies," said Martin Dupuis, assistant dean at the Burnett Honors College and the coordinator of this year's service learning trip. "We heard lectures in St. Kitts and Nevis by environmental officials, and our projects involved monitoring leatherback turtles and educating local residents on protecting the juvenile conch and lobster population."
They spent the first two weeks of June on the islands working with local officials and organizations in order to help improve the environmental conditions of the country, which have recently felt the negative effects of tourism and commercial fishing.
With the once profitable sugarcane industry on the decline, both have become important sources of revenue for the islands, often with damaging consequences to their pristine landscapes. On their trip, the UCF students worked to curtail some of the more serious and immediate threats.
"I recognize the need to be environmentally sensitive," said Michelle McGovern, junior hospitality management major. "It's the small changes that make a difference in the long run, and we need to educate the locals who don't understand that it's not going to be a huge change right here and right now."
The President's Scholars spent the first week of their trip in St. Kitts, where they monitored the heavily protected leatherback turtles of the island.
Each night from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., the students walked a 4-kilometer stretch of beach, looking for signs of turtles and turtle nests. Once located, the turtle, her nest and her eggs would be measured, counted and otherwise studied for data collection. They then handed the information over to veterinary officials on the island for further study.
"One of my jobs was to count the eggs," said Alexander Kaplan, junior philosophy major and American humanics minor. "We would actually lift up the back legs of these giant turtles so we could see their nests underneath. We were there with veterinary students and faculty from Ross Veterinary School … and one of our goals was to obtain information for them to use once we're gone."
"This year we focused on environmental issues and policies," said Martin Dupuis, assistant dean at the Burnett Honors College and the coordinator of this year's service learning trip. "We heard lectures in St. Kitts and Nevis by environmental officials, and our projects involved monitoring leatherback turtles and educating local residents on protecting the juvenile conch and lobster population."
They spent the first two weeks of June on the islands working with local officials and organizations in order to help improve the environmental conditions of the country, which have recently felt the negative effects of tourism and commercial fishing.
With the once profitable sugarcane industry on the decline, both have become important sources of revenue for the islands, often with damaging consequences to their pristine landscapes. On their trip, the UCF students worked to curtail some of the more serious and immediate threats.
"I recognize the need to be environmentally sensitive," said Michelle McGovern, junior hospitality management major. "It's the small changes that make a difference in the long run, and we need to educate the locals who don't understand that it's not going to be a huge change right here and right now."
The President's Scholars spent the first week of their trip in St. Kitts, where they monitored the heavily protected leatherback turtles of the island.
Each night from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., the students walked a 4-kilometer stretch of beach, looking for signs of turtles and turtle nests. Once located, the turtle, her nest and her eggs would be measured, counted and otherwise studied for data collection. They then handed the information over to veterinary officials on the island for further study.
"One of my jobs was to count the eggs," said Alexander Kaplan, junior philosophy major and American humanics minor. "We would actually lift up the back legs of these giant turtles so we could see their nests underneath. We were there with veterinary students and faculty from Ross Veterinary School … and one of our goals was to obtain information for them to use once we're gone."