The Georgia Sea Turtle Center welcomed two new education interns in early June of 2009. Nicki Pinnell and Stephanie Chong will be joining returning education intern, Liz Jeyes.

Hi everyone! My name is Stephanie and I am from Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2008, I completed my B.Sc.H. in environmental science & geography at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Despite the stereotype, I think I have only been caught saying “eh” once. In September, I returned to Science World in Vancouver, working in education and outreach. I needed a new adventure and so I will be here for the next four months as an education intern. I’m excited to be learning tons about sea turtles and living on Jekyll!

Hello! My name is Liz and I am a junior at Penn State University. I am studying Elementary Education and have taken many classes in environmental education. I developed a love of teaching about animals while volunteering at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center in State College, Pennsylvania. I have been working at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for the past 5 months and have grown to love sea turtles and their conservation. I hope to share my passion with guests to the center.

Hello all! My name is Nicki Pinnell, and I’m from Braselton, Georgia. I am currently two semesters away from completing my bachelor’s of science majoring in Wildlife at the University of Georgia. I’ve always had two passions in life, children and animals. Interning at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has brought those passions together. I hope to learn how to be an effective educator and an influential spokesperson for the conservation of endangered species

In 2008, The Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) embarked on a mission. In an effort to prevent excess waste, keep our soils & oceans healthy, and get kids involved in and benefit from the process, Scute’s Scribblers were born!

Scute’s Scribblers is a crayon recycling program initiated by the GSTC’s Education Department. Just one year ago in April, we put out a call to schools far and wide to start collecting their old, worn and broken crayons. What a response we received! Teachers and students alike from elementary, middle and high schools, stationed boxes in front offices, classrooms and lunchrooms to collect the crayon cast-offs. Initially, 80 pounds of crayons were gathered and made ready for a new life.

The pounds of donated crayons were peeled, melted to molten wax and reshaped into unique sea turtle shaped crayons!  From there, crayons were packaged & labeled. Using compostable cellulose bags and recycled labels, crayons were packed individually and in 5-packs to be featured as a donation purchase in the GSTC gift shop. Proceeds from crayon donations are deposited into a special account, dubbed Scute’s Scholarship Fund, which provides tuition for students to experience a GSTC field trip that they otherwise could not afford.

One particularly zealous student, 9-year-old Lorin Crair, struck out on her own mission to collect as many crayons as possible. Lorin, only 1 of 1350 students at Sabal Palm Elementary School in Jacksonville, FL, began collecting crayons in January mid-way through her third grade year. She designed and created ‘turtle pots,’ crayon collecting buckets which she placed in individual classrooms. At the recent Nest Fest event on Jekyll Island, Lorin, along with her parents, delivered the 88.2 pounds of crayons collected in only 6 short months. Lorin has no thoughts of stopping there! She recently placed a turtle pot at a local Italian restaurant that provides crayons to entertain waiting customers. Her goal is to collect over 100 pounds for the 2009-2010 school year. As a thank you to Lorin for her hard work, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff presented her with a plush Scute, the sea turtle mascot for whom the crayons are named and a Scute’s Scribbler in her favorite color, blue.

In the three months since Scute’s Scribblers debuted in the Gift Shop, Scute’s Scholarship Fund has received donations for over 370 crayons. We’re having a tough time keeping up with the demand! The good news is that two groups of students have already benefited from the program. Special needs students from Needwood Middle School in Brunswick, GA, had the opportunity to visit the Center where they saw Scute’s Ocean Adventure puppet show and visited with the sea turtle patients. A second group of ‘Young Women in Science’ from the Brunswick YMCA participated in Sea Turtle Rescue 911, a critical thinking program for high school students. They also had the opportunity to see women working in the science field ‘in action’ – Educators at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

With such an influx of crayons and so few staff, we recruited a little help! Yesterday, the Elderhostel’s Intergenerational Camp, a summer programs for grandparents & their grandkids, participated in a crayon peeling marathon. For one hour, 18 adults & 13 children sliced, peeled and sorted crayons in record time. Over 25 pounds of castoff crayons are now ready for the next phase of their recycled life.

Do you have crayons you’d like to donate to the Center’s efforts? Send your PEELED crayons to :

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center

214 Stable Road

Jekyll Island, GA 31527

Attention: Education Department

~Kelly O’Keefe, Educator

I recently received an email from the mom of a 4th grader from Chattanooga, TN in regards to few things directly associated with the GSTC.  This email touched my heart and just knew I had share it with everyone.  Here is a clip of that email:

“We are big fans of the sea turtles and have enjoyed learning about them over the past year. My daughter’s 4th grade class did a 9-week unit on the environment ,and as part of that I helped with a sea turtle project for them. We learned all about sea turtles, made our own eggs and turtles from clay, and made some great posters and pictures about them. We adopted Griffin for the class, and they all loved the updates and pictures of him. At the end of the year, they did an exhibit on sea turtles and talked with all the parents about what they learned. As part of a recycling project, they also collected 3 big containers of crayons to donate to the Sea Turtle Center after they saw the crayon project on your blog.  I am enclosing a few pictures of their efforts so you can see how you’ve inspired a bunch of 4th graders in Chattanooga, TN to make a difference to the sea turtles.”

You can image how proud we were to hear about the different ways this class learning about and helping sea turtles. It’s great to have such amazing support from all over the country and from people of all ages!

THANK YOU TO THIS 4TH GRADE CLASS FROM CHATTANOOGA, TN AND THE FAMILY THAT SHARED THIS WONDERFUL STORY WITH US!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

June 16 marked the 2 year anniversary of the Georgia Sea Turtle Centers grand opening!   This year, we celebrated in true sea turtle style with a week of fun filled activities!  All events were filled to capacity and we were bursting at the seams with guests ready to celebrate with us! Monday evening at the Center, Director and Veterinarian Dr. Terry Norton gave an update on the Centers progress the last 2 years and where we hope to go from here. Tuesdays Birds & Bees chat with Lydia Thompson and Jim Gertis was a huge success! Guests peeked into the nests of 2 not-very-well-known creatures: the honey bee and the Wilsons Plover.  Movie-goers at Wednesdays Finding Nemo were not only treated to a big-screen hit, but freshly popped popcorn to munch on during the flick. The thought of helping keep our beach clean and an ice cream treat drew a crowd for Thursday mornings Beachsweep. And who could resist our fun-loving mascot, Scute the Loggerhead Sea Turtle? A visit from Scute delighted the young and young-at-heart at an early morning breakfast served on the Center lawn. Scutes visit was followed by a tour of the Center-in our pajamas!  

Despite scorching temperatures, we guesstimated over 1000 visitors joined us for the Saturday finale party at the Beachdeck. Festival-goers were invited to partake in a number of activities on the upper deck. This year, we had the pleasure of hosting Naturalist Georgia Graves, Birding Enthusiast Brad Winn, our friends at Tidelands/4-H & the Coastal ARK- all with so much to share! Don’t know much about nesting on Jekyll Island? If you had the chance to check out the goings-on, consider yourself an expert!

Sea turtles & Diamondback Terrapins, sharks & snakes, the gopher tortoise & other burrow-dwelling animals, American Oystercatchers & Red Knots, horseshoe crabs & even live beach critters were all featured as part of the educational exhibits. It looks like children of ALL ages participated in the fun!

The lower deck gave way to an impromptu dance party with Island Sounds DJ, Justin. Three go-rounds of the Kid’s Turtle Crawl obstacle course throughout the day called to beach athletes itching for a little fun competition. And a festival would not be a festival without a feast! Teddy gave the grillside fare a thumbs up!

We topped off the day with the successful release of Simone & Duffy, two rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle patients that arrived at the Center just a month apart. After almost one full year in the hospital recovering from illness & injury, the two were returned to their ocean home. Track their ocean adventures at www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org.

A huge thanks to our tireless volunteers & staff, the Jekyll Island Authority and YOU! Thanks for making this event possible!

~ Kelly OKeefe, Educator

As of July 1, 2009 the exciting and informative behind the scenes tours at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center will be only $20!  Children ages 10-12 will be just $15!  This includes admission into the center!  That means that for just an extra $14 you can come into our treatment room and see all of the unique equipment we use to help sick and injured sea turtles.  You will also have the opportunity to venture into our commissary and see just how we take care of our patients.  We will be offering these special tours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.**  For more information please give us a call at 912-635-4444.

**All dates and times are subject to change due to treatments or special events.  Please call ahead for reservations.  Individuals must be over the age of 10 to participate in these tours.