On April 3rd, Hugh and I made our way over to Sutherland High School in North Vancouver to meet up with Mrs. Hayters Grade 12 Geography class. Mrs. Hayter had asked us to come in and help pass along a message of ocean awareness to the class.

Hugh and I had never had the opportunity to talk in front of a class of students at the High School level and wanted to ensure we had a presentation that not only taught them something but inspired them to follow up on their dreams. After a couple meetings to build a presentation and work through what we were going to say, we found ourselves nervously chatting outside Mrs. Hayters class. After meeting up and few quick introductions, we were on our way. Our presentation was displayed on a giant TV screen and we where thrust in front of the class.

Wow, what an experience! We slowly worked our way through the presentation chatting about all the issues we through should be presented and tentatively asked if anyone had any questions. Questions were slow in the beginning but soon we had hands up all over the classroom and were trying to answer the very well thought out questions.

The students had obviously been listening very intently and threw out some questions that had us stumbling for answers at some points. It was an incredible experience for Hugh and I to see the response we got to this initiative. Everyone was excited and wanted to know how they could make a difference. “What can I do to help?”

We would like to thank both Mrs. Hayter and Christina Hartigan for organizing this opportunity and thank everyone who was there for this amazing experience. Hugh and I both came out of there filled with renewed energy and excitement for this trip.

Most of all, I would like to thank all the students for listening and showing us that this research is important, and that a little awareness can go along way to changing our personal actions.

Tessa Holloway from the North Shore News attended this presentation and wrote this amazing article in the North Shore News. Thanks, Tessa.