International Educational Conservation Program Set

International Sister Cities Exchange Program features leading scientists, teachers, students and conservation organizations in announcement April 23 – 26

KEY LARGO, FLORIDA, USA, April 18, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Celebration of the Sea Foundation will officially announce the launch of the “Ocean Heroes” international interactive educational and conservation exchange program which features a unique global public-private partnership between leading scientific, educational and conservation organizations at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 24 at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo.

The launch is co-hosted by the Celebration of the Sea Foundation Board of Directors along with Monroe County Government officials and a wide variety of leading education, conservation and research organizations. Ten Mexican Ocean Heroes Ambassadors from the Sister City of Cancún, Mexico will be welcomed during the launch.

The following day, Tuesday April 25, divers will participate in a coral restoration project. Divers will depart from the Mote Marine Lab Islamorada Coral Nursery at Bud N’ Mary’s Marina and led by I.CARE About Corals with the Ocean Heroes partnering U.S. and Mexican scientific, educational and conservation organizations.

A major focus of the education program is on highlighting extraordinary ocean conservation role models and respective jobs and career paths for students in STREAM (Science, Technology, Resiliency, Engineering, Arts & Math), eco-tourism, fisheries, hospitality and the marine industries. An additional key goal of each program is to bring public attention to critically important environmental issues, while engaging, educating and inspiring children and their families to help protect and ensure the sustained well-being of marine animals and their respective habitats.

The Ocean Heroes program features in-school enrichment programs and state-of-the-art, live-streamed interactive broadcasts. Both will be complemented by pre-recorded video content, produced by the Celebration of the Sea Foundation, in collaboration with select U.S. and Mexican based educational, conservation and research organizations. The initial schools that have been selected to pilot the program are Treasure Village Montessori School in Islamorada and Sugarloaf School in Summerland Key in Florida. The Leonardo Da Vinci Schools in Cancún, Mexico, which are officially certified as Cambridge International Bilingual educational institutions, have been selected as the initial international Sister City educational locations.

The Ocean Heroes program provides direct access to a broad range of international thought leaders who serve as extraordinary role models for students and teachers in a wide variety of key subject areas. These include marine plastics and their direct impact on marine ecosystems, marine animal rescue and protection, fish species identification and population studies, endangered and invasive species, civic leadership and governance of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The Ocean Heroes program will continue to showcase critically important habitat conservation and restoration efforts that are currently underway including coral reefs and mangroves while highlighting their direct interconnectedness with Everglades National Park, the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay and Cenotes in Mexico.

The ten Mexican Ocean Heroes ambassadors participating in this initial exchange program have been selected for their extensive expertise in education, conservation, research and community leadership. The ambassadors of the Mexican delegation’s visit for the launch sponsored by the Celebration of the Sea Foundation include: Tania Fernandez Moreno, Director of Ecology, Benito Juarez; Roberto Ibarra, the Department Chief of the Isla Mujeres National Park; Rafael De La Parra, the Executive Director of Ch'ooj Ajauil and one of the world’s preeminent whale shark scientists; Katy Galindo, the Director of Amigos de Isla Contoy National Park; Alexa Marguia Trujillo, Public Relations Manager for the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council; Daniel Rodriguez, founder and director of Snorkel 4 Trash; Juan Carlos Bonilla Director of Popular Cinema; and Leonardo Da Vinci American Institute schools representatives: Principal Guillermo Zepeda Navarro, Sr.; Assistant Principal Guillermo Zepeda Servín, Jr.; and Middle School Director Ana Romina Mendiola Urostegui. The program’s Sister City of Benito Juarez Mexico has already extended an invitation to sponsor a reciprocal U.S. Ocean Heroes ambassadors’ trip to Mexico which will be conducted later in the year and will include a group of Monroe County educators, scientists, conservation organizations and community leaders.

“We’re thrilled to be able to collaborate with all of these amazing organizations to bring such an exciting and unique educational program to our students and teachers,” said Monroe County and City of Layton Mayor and Celebration of the Sea Foundation Treasurer Bruce Halle. “This is an outstanding opportunity to work together to make a major difference in education and conservation, and we’re so proud that our Monroe County Schools have been selected to pilot the roll-out of this extraordinary, international program.”

The Ocean Heroes educational series is made possible through the generous support of the Celebration of the Sea Foundation, Brightmark, State Farm Companies Foundation, The Coldwell Banker Schmitt Real Estate Company, Dolphin Point Villas, Ocean Imaging, the Hewitt Family and Jim and Rachael Solomon, in addition to Audacy, Inc., Southern Hospitality Concessions and REVERB, who donated a percentage of the proceeds of reusable water bottle sales sold during last year’s Audacy Beach Festival in Fort Lauderdale. The festival’s fundraising initiative was planned and implemented by REVERB and the Celebration of the Sea Foundation, which continues to serve each year as the event’s official charity and conservation partner for Audacy, promoting ocean conservation and sustainability to the public.

“We are thrilled by the announcement of the Ocean Heroes program and excited to collaborate and participate as one of the official sponsors to help fund this amazing international initiative. We believe change happens at the intersection of action, optimism and education and look forward to continuing to support this mission with an emphasis on solutions for plastics” said Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark.

For more information about how your school can participate in the Celebration of the Sea Foundation’s Ocean Heroes program or to become an official corporate or philanthropic sponsor to support our amazing students and teachers please contact Info@CelebrationOfTheSea.org.

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Maria Pierson
Pierson Grant Public Relations
+1 954-776-1999
mpierson@piersongrant.com
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Ocean Heroes Announcement