Friday, December 18, 2015

Our highlights for the month of September 2015


 Mass reading of "Canito, el murciélago pescador:"

The Corporation for the conservation of the San Juan Bay Estuary organized and facilitated the mass reading of our estuary-themed children's book: "Canito, el murciélago pescador" in 19 schools located within the San Juan Bay watershed (two of them outside it, in Bayamón and Ponce). The educative initiative was made possible by our staff members and VISTA volunteers, along with a number of renowned artists spanning different disciplines. These included the author of the book, Zulma Ayes, visual artist Rafael Trelles and actor Yamil Collazo, among others. The reading took place September 10th, 2015.

Our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers Joselín E. Ramírez and Zenaida Vázquez put together and edited a short video featuring footage and photography from the many schools where the reading took place. Here's the video:


Siempre agradecidos con todos los lectores que dedicaron su tiempo este 10 de septiembre de 2015 a leerle "Canito, el murciélago pescador" a los niños de decenas de escuelas de Puerto Rico. Pasamos un día maravilloso. ¡Gracias por todas las fotos que han enviado!
Posted by Estuario: ciudad de las aguas on viernes, 11 de septiembre de 2015


Author Zulma Ayes and our education manager, Javier Cardona.
Author Zulma Ayes and Javier Cardona prepare to read "Canito" at the Alejandro Tapia Elementary School in Villa Palmeras, Santurce.
Actor Yamil Collazo reads the story to the kids at the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Elementary School in Cantera Peninsula, San Juan.



Informative Table:


In Friday 25th and Saturday 26th of September, we continued our outreach education initiative through the setup of informative tables in different gatherings and conferences. We were present both days in the 2nd National History Students’ of Puerto Rico Encounter in Old San Juan, and on Saturday we attended the Citizens’ for Science Encounter in Manatí.


Our informative table at the Pedro Albizu Campos University in Old San Juan.
Informative table at the La Esperanza Estate Natural Reserve, in Manatí.
Guardians of the Estuary:

We have a very active volunteer group of elementary school students. These last two weekends have been quite busy for them. Javier Cardona has led different school groups in learning and sharing knowledge with fellow classmates on how our storm sewers work and keeping our surrounding bodies of water clean. All of these groups placed custom seals by sewer drains near their schools that read in Spanish: “FLOWS TO YOUR COAST | DO NOT POLLUTE.”


Girls from the Julián Blanco specialized school of ballet, September 21st.





Students  of the democratic school Espacio A in Old San Juan, September 24th.


Underwater trash cleanup:


Our contractor Cristina Ramírez organized an underwater trash removal excursion at the Condado Lagoon in September 19th. This activity is part of her Trash Free Waters project. The attendants were divided into two groups: divers who swam underwater to grab trash from the bottom of the lake, and walkers who cleared the lagoon’s shore of any solid waste.





Diving and on-foot groups cleaning-up trash in the Condado Lagoon, September 19th, 2015.

Shorebirds workshop in Piñones:


VISTA Volunteer Stephanie Camacho organized a shorebird workshop in Piñones’ natural reserve as part of the group’s ongoing effort to establish ecotourism as a source for economical growth in that community. The workshop was a success, with about a dozen enthusiasts attending the activity.

Attendants at the Piñones’ beach and the Piñones’ Lagoon, September 26th, 2015.
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Stephanie Camacho coaching attendants in the identification of shorebird species.


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