STEAM TRAINING
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Unique STEAM Training in Carteret County
n January of 2019, a local non-profit named MERROW Foundation (merrowfoundation. org) and a FL non-profit named SCUBAnauts, International (scubanautsintl.org) joined forces to create a NC Chapter of SCUBAnauts— and 11 intrepid teens and their parents began a great adventure. What is SCUBAnauts, you might ask? It is an organization whose mission is to educate teens in Marine Sciences, enabling them to make a positive impact on the environment and empowering them to become tomorrow’s leaders. Participants learn science diving techniques, ultimately becoming AAUS Science Divers and apply them to real-world research questions that scientists are tackling. Their mission blends nicely with MERROW’s mission of promoting ocean recovery through the application of sound science with hands-on educational outreach and travel for scientists, citizen-scientists and nonscientists alike. Returning to the inception of the new NC SCUBAnauts chapter, 11 kids between the ages of 10 and 18 and their parents eagerly joined and began training. Through monthly dryland meetings, the students focused
YOUTH ON THE COAST
on learning all about Geological Oceanography, which was the subject of study for that year. When the weather warmed up, they would apply what they were learning to local areas in Carteret County and improve their SCUBA diving skills by refreshing the basics such as mask removal and replacement, working on their buoyancy and learning some basic rescue techniques. The students also began a coral restoration project at Radio Island Rock Jetty, which they cleaned and monitored until Hurricane Dorian, when it was destroyed, all done in conjunction with the research efforts of the scientists at MERROW Foundation. Two of our NC SCUBAnauts were able to participate in a week-long research project down in the Florida Keys during June, 2019. We worked with scientists at the Mote Marine Lab on Summerland Key, FL to identify and track instances of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, also known as SCTLD. This project created a cross-pollination between the well-established FL chapters of SCUBAnauts and this newly formed NC SCUBAnaut chapter. All research was conducted under the watchful guidance of a dive professional. We also worked with Combat Wounded Veterans to maintain the Mote Marine Lab Coral Nursery and learn more about underwater navigation while at the Naval Air Station in Key West. The cross-pollination continued as a smaller group of FL SCUBAnauts
visited NC for the first time in July. This group learned about the joys of diving at Radio Island and offshore on some of our area’s shallower wrecks, like the Indra and the Francesconi Tugs. They also participated in the cleaning and maintenance of the coral trees that our NC SCUBAnauts had been working on all summer. The FL nauts even had an opportunity to visit some of our local tourist sites like Ft. Macon and receive presentations from the aquarium on their Spot-a-Shark project! As the seasons changed and the temperatures cooled, our students focused more on dryland meetings. With 2020, we are focusing on biological oceanography as our study area. Our Nauts will be choosing an organism to study throughout the year and will be giving a presentation on their subject at the end of the year. We continue with swim tests, check out dives when its warmer and First Aid CPR/Oxygen administration training in the form of Divers Alert Network DFA Pro certifications and training. Two of our NC nauts will be traveling down to FL to participate in a photogrammetry project, one will be heading to Washington, DC to participate in CHOW, the Capital Hill’s Ocean Week and a few will be heading down to FL to work with Mote again. We also look forward to welcoming another great group of FL SCUBAnauts to NC! We are always looking to expand and we would love to talk with you about becoming a SCUBAnaut with MERROW. If you have any questions, you can email Janelle.fleming@merrowfoundation. org. Check out our FB page at facebook. com/MERROWFOUNDATION/ and facebook.com/SCUBAnautsIntl/. €
CarolinaSalt.com » February / March 2020 CAROLINA SALT 15
