First-Graders to Present Art From Reused Materials to Protect Sea Life – Cabrillo National Monument on March 23rd

Raising funds and awareness: “Saving Sea Life Exhibition”

By Christopher Dotson

“People start pollution. People can stop it.”

This message from the 1971 Earth Day campaign should still be ringing in our ears. To this day, this simple fact reminds us how our children’s children still carry the burden of ensuring future quality of living standards for all creatures on the planet. Teach the children. Inform the parents.

Teaching American youth about “problems and solutions” is probably the best long-term strategy. Thankfully, one dedicated teacher at Audubon Elementary School has been doing just that! Melissa Han’s eighteen first graders are leading the charge and setting an example for us to learn and follow.

Along with classroom presentations from New Ocean Blue, Miramar Recycling Center , and a local environmental artist, Teresa Espaniola, students have been learning ways to reduce, reuse and recycle trash.

Introducing younger generations to alternatives and involving others to re-educate a nation suffering from dependence on disposable plastic, Mrs. Han’s students are helping convert American consumers to more sustainable lifestyles which rely, instead, on reusable materials.

“Don’t trash our beaches!”

Slogans like the one above represent recent and well-targeted campaigns aimed less at reducing and more towards eliminating superfluous flows of trash, primarily plastics, from further littering our oceans, spoiling our coastlines, and polluting our food chain. While classroom lessons and school projects included a variety of simple conservation methods and practical new consumer habits, the overall objective for teachers, parent volunteers and grass roots organizations include prevention of ever-larger, country-sized garbage patches now growing in each of five gyres (see www.5gyres.org).

One goal for the first graders from Audubon school is to educate others and elevate the problems of coastal pollution – specifically, our superfluous plastics – by raising awareness of five endangered marine species and pink river dolphins. Among those marine animals threatened are sharks, whales, sea turtles, sea stars, and seals.

Together, these first grade students have collected objects which will not soon degrade, re-purposing and transforming beach trash into works of art.

Gathering garbage off our San Diego beaches and selecting items from recycling bins, the children have provided us with an amazing assemblage of environmental artwork. A collection of eighteen 8″ x 10″ canvases, the children have formed their own creative interpretations of endangered marine life – all made from trash.

Students have visited the Cabrillo Tide Pools, participated in beach clean-ups, and studied the harmful impact of plastics on wildlife. They’ve learned, too, about the five gyres and whirling masses of garbage which have traversed our oceans and accumulated in these vibrant oceanic regions.

Take to another level: Taking it personally

Mrs. Han recalls their mutual experience:

“One morning, I asked my students to look at some resources with me and asked them if they noticed a problem happening among sea life. As they shared what struck them, their questions began to flow. “Why are they dying? Who is doing this? How can we help them?” These beginning questions led us into our research where the students chose an endangered sea animal that they wanted to protect. The students then began not only looking up information that would help their own research, but then they began to find information for one another! As an educator, I have struggled with trying to find what motivates my students to not only learn for themselves but to also create a culture of collaboration. It was finally happening!”

Fund Raising “Saving Sea Life Exhibition”: March 23rd at the Cabrillo National Monument’s Visitor’s Center

Let’s all follow their example and join together, demonstrating to the Audubon school children how they are not alone in their convictions. The fruits of their considerable time and energy will be displayed and on-sale, March 23rd, at the Cabrillo National Monument’s Visitor’s Center. Proceeds of artwork sales will benefit Cabrillo National Park.

It is open to children of all ages, so please bring your kids, grandkids, “little brothers and little sisters”, parents and grandparents! At 6:15PM, Mrs. Han will offer a public presentation and students will present their art work and vignettes of these endangered animals (presentation in the theater).

Mrs. Han’s First Graders Present: Project Saving Sea Life Exhibition

Mission: To save endangered sea animals through presentations and donations given for student artwork created with reused materials.

When: Friday, March 23rd at 6pm-8pm

A 6:15pm welcome presentation begins in the theater

Where: Cabrillo National Monument’s Visitor’s Center, 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Dr, San Diego, CA

Parking is free: Please let the ranger know that you are attending the exhibition.