Science Exchange Program Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Science Exchange Sea Turtle Internship Program, a project that creates leaders through science, technology, and international teamwork to tackle global conservation issues, celebrated its 10th anniversary.
The Science Exchange is a project of the Ocean Foundation, a  non-profit organization. The anniversary celebration, held at the Marina Village Conference Center in San Diego, included a dinner, live music, dancing, a silent auction, awards, and even piñatas. The event also included the Leader of the Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program at NOAA Fisheries Jeffrey Seminoff as a keynote speaker.
The Science Exchange is divided in two major programs. One program is for undergraduate and graduate students from around the world interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As interns, the students travel to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and other Latin American sites and earn college credit at their own university. Interns can work at a sea turtle research center on the beach or in a university lab, collect data in the field, and immerse themselves in the local culture and language.
“The interns help sea turtles when they come out in the beach at night. The students take the sea turtle eggs and move them to a safe spot in the beach. In Latin America, people still eat turtle eggs, so the students protect the turtle and the egg,” Science Exchange director, Katherine Comer-Santos said. “During the day, the interns collect data for a research project that depends on their major. We have had students with majors in science, biology, and even  business.”
Over the last 10 years, 53 Science Exchange interns have released 250,000 sea turtle hatchlings to the ocean, and removed 18,000 pieces of trash from waterways.
The second program by the Science Exchange involves students from Montgomery Middle School. The middle-schoolers don’t travel outside the United States, but they do take a field trip to the San Diego bay after five weeks of classroom activities.
“The students go the Living Coast Discovery Center. They collect water data, and experience the life of scientists and biologists,” Comer Santos added. “The children are the future leaders in the planet. The future of this endangered species is in their hands.”
A total of 420 middle school students have participated in the program.
“At the Science Exchange we are trying to show young people that science can be fun,” Comer-Santos said. “Anybody can study STEM topics, they are not difficult. There is not enough promotion about STEM topics out there.”

Author

Ana Gomez Salcido