High School Student On Reef-Building Mission to Change World
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 07.24.07
Well, Action For Nature recently announced the winners of its 2007 Young Eco-Heroes Award, and Jasmine Jeffers of Florida is one winning high school student who clearly made a tremendously positive difference in the last year. To help educate the public about the plight of coral reefs around the world she took the idea of creating reef balls and made it a localized community project called Operation Reef Ball. By engaging people at her school she was able to help oversee the creation of over two dozen of them out of eco-friendly concrete, and then ensure that they were deployed at two sites which continue to be monitored for reef building action.
Not enough? Well, she continued by creating and coordinating educational workshops that qualify as “edu-tainment” for kids from grades K-12. And so far they’ve been presented to over 500 students, consisting of hands-on activities where kids can make edible coral polyps, interact with live marine creatures, test water samples and learn about the importance of the ocean and clean water. As Jasmine puts it “This project has made me realize that even high-schoolers can make a difference in the world”. And with each reef ball lasting for hundreds of years, it’s a difference that’s destined to last long after you and I are gone…
See also:: Operation Reef Ball
