Will Isern

wisern@pnj.com

As the sun set in the distance, James Barnes carefully swept away the sand as he dug into what looked to be a sea turtle nest Saturday on Johnson Beach in Perdido Key.

Barnes, an eighth-grader at Bailey Middle School, was one of a handful of Bailey students to take part in an inaugural program Saturday aimed at educating middle school students about the effects of light pollution on sea turtles.

Turtle T.H.i.S. (Teens Helping in the Seashore) is a new program of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Students spent hours late into the night Saturday looking for sea turtle nests and measuring ambient light in the night sky to determine if it might disorient female turtles coming ashore to lay eggs or the hatchlings as they attempt to crawl to the water.

Students from Escambia High School and Bailey Middle School took part in the program Saturday, but the National Seashore hopes to attract other schools to the program as it develops.

"This is a teaching method that combines service to the national park with classroom curriculum," said National Seashore Ranger Beckie Mims. "Students gain field experience by participating in the actual monitoring of of an endangered species."

Students used laser-equipped dark sky meters to test for light pollution. Blue light was specifically tested for, as it's believed to be the light to which sea turtles are most sensitive.

Bailey Middle School biology teacher Elizabeth Evans-Razi helped to bring the program to life, and said she hopes participating in it will instill in her students a life-long interest in the sciences.

"This is real science, this is the type of stuff a lot of kids don't get to do until college," she said. "I'm hoping it's going to steer some of them toward the sciences. So much in teaching these days seems to be teaching to the test, but here they're getting to see the things we cover in real life."

Escambia High School junior Brielle Voorhees said taking part in the the Turtle T.H.i.S. program has reaffirmed her desire to pursue marine biology when she graduates.

"I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want to do after high school," she said. "I'm looking into the field of marine biology, and this will help me figure out what kind of marine biology I want to work with."