A team of four students and one teacher from Sherwood High School in Olney, Md. have been selected to participate with NASA in the 2nd National Student Summit on Oceans and Coasts. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is acting as their Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center (CELC). There are 22 CELC facilities and they are comprised of premiere national aquaria, museums, and research centers.
The Summit will be held in Washington, D.C. at the National Academies of Sciences December 5-8, 2006. Hosted by Coastal America Partnership, this summit will bring 19 student delegations from across the Nation to present Plans of Action and recommendations for ocean and coastal protection to national experts and policy leaders.
The team from Sherwood High School, chose “Deforestation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed” as their topic. “Our student team is one that bonded well during AP Environmental Science last year and they truly care about environmental issues” said Laura Dinerman, the group’s teacher. “These students received top AP scores and have expressed an interest in working in an Environmental Science related field. They were truly impressed with the data they found relating to deforestation and believe they can make a difference both locally and, with time, globally. We are all very excited about sharing our concern and ideas at the summit, and are grateful to NASA for allowing us to have this opportunity”
The Sherwood team will present their Action Plan during the summit to technical experts and managers in the policy and scientific arenas. Collectively, the delegation will develop a national consensus document and provide a student voice into the Listening Sessions on Cooperative Conservation before high-level government officials. Students will return home to refine and further implement their plans. Coastal America will continue to provide written guidance on action plans and journals.
The three-day agenda includes Phillippe Cousteau as a keynote speaker, an opportunity to meet the ocean community and the NOAA Administrator, Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., as well as tours of the White House and the Capitol Building.
The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Report and the Administration’s U.S. Ocean Action Plan emphasizes the need to expand education about our coasts and oceans. This Student Summit, modeled after the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation, will provide academic experience to students in science and social studies by providing a holistic understanding of science, economic, and policy issues involving ocean and coastal governance.
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