Enie Hensel and Candace Fields, on behalf of Sharks4Kids, did a weeklong outreach tour along Great Abaco Island this past October. They visited a total of eight schools and two after school clubs at Friends of the Environment reaching about 500 students. This was an incredible opportunity for Enie and Candace to visit these schools, many of which just reopened this August after being repaired from hurricane Dorian of 2019.
“We got the chance to interact and discuss shark ecology and conservation with students from 4 to 17 years old, all having JAWesome shark questions like ‘where does a shark go in a storm’, ‘how heavy is a shark’ to ‘do sharks have predators too’” - Enie Hensel
Abaco Principals and Teachers were not only thrilled to integrate shark conservation into their lessons this semester, but they were incredible in helping us coordinate our visit and time spent with the students. With such positive feedback from the teachers, Sharks4Kids hopes to have a teacher workshop in Abaco in the future.
“I enjoy being able to come back to my country, both sharing what I have learned in graduate school and educating others on shark conservation and science. Being able to change the perspectives of my fellow Bahamians on sharks and get people to understand how important sharks are in general and particularly in The Bahamas is something that I am truly passionate about and I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to do so.” - Candace Fields
Sharks4Kids has been presenting at schools in Abaco annually from 2015 - 2018, and we are so excited to have been back. A definite highlight for the younger crowd was our 3D model sharks, where students either colored their model shark to resemble a real shark or determined a new, made-up shark where its pattern and colors were made to camouflage their imaginary habitat to be stealthy, sharks seeking prey.
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