[Return to Perspectives Main Page] What the Sanctuary Means to Me as a Teacher Grace Kwon (right) with Acting Sanctuary Manager Naomi McIntosh. For the past six years, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary program has become a vital part of the Marine Science Program at Farrington High School by providing marine mammal information currently lacking in our curriculum. The sanctuary has matched funds enabling students to participate in a whale watch field trip, and has found speakers from over 15 different marine-related fields to speak at a career exploration program. Extremely competent staffers have challenged our at-risk students with pre-field trip slide shows and lectures. Some student comments overheard on board the ship have been: "Wow, this is my first time on a boat!," "Look! It's a humpback whale, I see its dorsal fin. Awesome!" "Is that what marine biologists do?" "Divers in the Navy have an exciting job!" And of course, the crowning comment: "I'm going to college and become a science Navy divers demonstrate proper use of their gear on one of the Farrington students. teacher!" (This student has been accepted at a Colorado Teacher's College this fall.) Yes, the program has enlarged and lifted the career horizons of our students. Personally, the program has opened up new worlds of experiences and introduced me to some fantastic people who have enhanced my knowledge of the marine world (specifically the humpback whale) and enriched the marine science course that I teach. The Sustainable Seas Expedition effort showed underwater exploration at its best with Dr. Sylvia Earle and a cutting edge discovery of a fantastic 5-foot octopus. In addition, the International Marine Debris Conference in August promises Pacific Rim student exchanges. Careers on the Water participants give group presentations at the end of the cruise to summarize what they have learned from their career leaders. This seems to be a never-ending story of my involvement with the sanctuary program and its people, and I hope it continues to be this way as long as I live-- even beyond retirement from formal education. The current involvement with many more schools and teachers (especially on the neighbor islands of Maui, Hawai`i, and Kaua`i) points to the widening educational influence of the sanctuary.       [top] Revised by the HIHWNMS web team on August 12, 2000. URL: http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/perspectives/teacher_student.html.