As our Americorps year is beginning to wind down to a close, I’ve been reflecting on all of the things I’ve learned through my service at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center as an Education Member. There have been so many wonderful memories that I will carry with me throughout my life, but there are a few things that I’ve learned the most:

1) Patience! Turtles aren’t always the speediest of animals in either their movements or their recovery. Patience at the G.S.T.C. is a must, no matter which department you work in. In education, we spend our days retelling the stories of our turtle patients and educating many school groups and guests about sea turtles and conservation. We’ve had many long and busy days here at the center as we work hard to get the word out about these amazing animals, but in the end it makes us feel closer to our turtles and closer to our public and supporters. Most of all, you can’t ever beat that satisfied feeling when, after months of dedication to a turtle patient, we can celebrate as it makes its way back to the ocean for a second chance at life.

2) There is no greater joy than inspiring a child to care about turtles (or nature in general). The most enjoyable time of this past year has been when I could sit on the floor with a child and let them touch turtle shells and other specimen as we talked for a long time. Young children are so excited to learn, and it has been a great joy to have the privilege of being the one who can help a child understand how amazing these creatures are.

3) Love of nature can bring all kinds of people together. As the G.S.T.C. has grown in popularity over the four short years that it’s been open, we’ve had the honor of meeting people from all over the world. It’s been so much fun meeting new people every day, hearing their stories, and having them enjoy ours. Conservation can be hard work, but it’s so easy to love your job when you enjoy what you’re doing. I’m so grateful to our guests for making this job so amazing!

4) Never be afraid to be silly! Conservation isn’t just about rescuing animals and releasing them back into the wild. It’s also about talking to the public, inspiring people to care, and connecting with others. Being here at the G.S.T.C. has taught me to never take myself too seriously. I’ve worn a terrapin mask on my forehead, played silly games with kids, and laughed at myself much too often. Conservation requires you to be real, to show your passion for nature, and therefore show a little bit of your true colors. This position not only taught me so much about turtles and education, but about myself as well.

5) Live each and every moment! I’ve tried very hard to soak in each and every day at the G.S.T.C. Guests always comment about how lucky I am to have this opportunity, and I never wanted to take it for granted. This year has flown by so quickly, but focusing on each guest I talk to, each turtle I work with, and each moment of work, good and bad, has provided me with so many wonderful memories. From the beginning, I knew that this internship would be a wonderful experience, but because of our wonderful guests, our amazing staff at the center, and especially my fellow Americorps Members, this year has been one that I will never forget. An even greater passion for turtles, and for people, has been inspired in me that will remain for the rest of my life.

Aislinn Heathcote

Americorps Education Member

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center has become an extremely popular destination for school groups! Students are always so enamored with our sea turtle patients and often approach our Staff with questions about what they can do to help sea turtles. Five third-grade students from Bleckley County Elementary School found an extremely creative way to connect to one of our sea turtle patients through video production and digital storytelling! Read below for a first hand account from their teacher, Ms. Tanya Rodgers,

“The 2010-2011 Georgia Movie Academy Competition is sponsored by the Educational Technology Centers in the state of Georgia. Our school, Bleckley County Elementary School, has several Movie Academy Teams competing in the area of video production and digital storytelling. Five third-grade students wrote essays as a part of the selection process for the opportunity to participate in the competition. Coaches, like myself, volunteer to guide instruction and give advice to team members as they produce and tell a story related to this year’s theme “The Voices of Georgia.” The students will learn how to use cameras; video, sound, and movie-making equipment; and editing software in the process of composing their three minute video project.

Our team met several times to brainstorm ideas for a video and begin developing a script. As a part of their curriculum requirements, third-graders have been studying animals of Georgia and their habitats, and the damage that is done by humans to the fragile environment of the Atlantic Ocean. The children in the entire third grade raised funds through a coin drive and adopted a sea turtle named Freedom from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, and a manatee named Georgia from the Save the Manatees organization. After packets of information were received about the adoptees, an exhibit announcing the adoptions was placed in the hall so the children could follow the progress, health, and status of these animals. When members of Movie Academy team met, they decided to tell the story of Freedom from her point of view through their film titled “The Voice of Freedom.”

Right before Christmas, the team members learned that Freedom was scheduled to be released. The children were disappointed that they would not get to meet Freedom, but eagerly awaited the chance to visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on January 21, 2011 so they can tell her story. The students enjoyed meeting our sea turtle patients and were even able to view a surgical procedure on Erika! They truly enjoyed working with the GSTC Education Staff through educational programs and interviews.

While funding was limited, our principal and the children’s parents have been wonderful to help us out whenever they can. We are blessed to have such great support!”

I have been waiting to post this blog until the video was complete, so as to share it with all our online visitors. However, we just found out that the school will not have the video judging results until May. So stay tuned, keep your fingers crossed and please be thinking turtley thoughts for our friends at Bleckley County Elementary School! I will be sure to post the results and the video as soon as we get approval.

Many thanks to Ms. Rodgers and her students for their passion and dedication. It is because of people like you, that sea turtles have a bright future ahead of them!

~Alicia B. Marin, GSTC Education Coordinator

*UPDATE*

The students from Bleckley County Elementary School entered their short, “The Voice of Freedom, Journey of a Sea Turtle,” in the Georgia Movie Academy Competition and unfortunately did not take home the Oscar. We can’t figure out why because we think their short is great!

See for yourself!

Our mission at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) is to increase awareness of habitat and wildlife conservation challenges, promote responsibility for ecosystem health and empower individuals to act locally, regionally, and globally to protect the environment. The GSTC has a sister facility, St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network (SKSTMN), located on the beautiful island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean. The GSTC and SKSTMN work hard together to promote the education, research, and conservation efforts for all sea turtles. The people on this island heavily rely on the ocean and its inhabitants for their livelihood and way of life. Fishing is a huge part of the economy and sea turtle harvesting is not an uncommon sight. The meat from Hawksbills and Green sea turtles are consumed as “turtle relish”.

Theophilus Taylor is a resident of St Kitts whose livelihood is tied to the sea and the land. He sells fruits and vegetables that he has grown on his hillside farm at the local market. He also sells his fisheries catch and at times this has included sea turtle meat and products. Theophilus is very involved in his community and is president of the local Sandy Point Fishermen’s Cooperative. He is highly respected by his peers and the children of the island look to him for knowledge and advice.

Throughout the years Kimberly Stewart, DVM, who is the director of the SKSTMN, has gained Theophilus’s trust by doing necropsies (animal autopsy) on his harvested turtles. This trust has led to his increased interest in the work being done on the island as well as the future of the sea turtle.  Dr. Stewart and the staff at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center have taken great efforts in involving Theophilus in our conservation and research efforts. He has gone to education events at local schools, monitored and tagged nesting Leatherback females, and has been involved with tagging and satellite transmitter placement on Hawksbill and green sea turtles.

Theophilus Taylor placing a satellite transmitter on a Hawksbill. http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptile-news/2010/10/25/new-program-to-save-sea-turtles.aspx

Theophilus is very excited about being involved in this work and has become a changed man. He is passionate about educating the youth on the protection of the turtles and why they are important to their beautiful island. He no longer harvests turtles and encourages his fellow fisherman to do the same. He has become the embodiment of the Georgia Sea Turtle Centers mission statement. His story moves all of us and shows us that our work here at the GSTC is changing lives and protecting turtles. So naturally, in honor of him and his work, we have recently named a sea turtle after him.

Theophilus is a juvenile Green sea turtle who came to us from Marine Land Aquarium in Florida. We are uncertain of his/her sex at this time because he/she is a juvenile but we will just call him male to avoid confusion. He presented to us as a cold stunned turtle that was weak and lethargic, had a small amount of algae and barnacles on his shell and skin, bilateral corneal ulcers, missing portions of his rear flippers, dehydrated and had lots of gastrointestinal gas. His initial treatment included antibiotics for his eyes, systemic antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections and cisapride which helps with gut motility in order to relieve his GI gas. He has made great improvements and started eating and defecating early on, which is a good sign. Theo was released on May 22, 2011 on Amelia island at the Amelia Wild Festval. Houndreds of people showed up to wish him well and to see him returned back to the sea. We Look forward to informing Theophilus the man that his namesake was returned home!!

Dr. Terry Norton and vet tech Steven Nelson releasing Theophilus

Amanda Harris

2010-2011 AmeriCorps Husbandry Member

On May 11, 2011, all 18 AmeriCorps members could be seen along the causeway, the one road to get to and from Jekyll Island. During the afternoon, as part of a service project during National AmeriCorps Week, a week-long celebration of AmeriCorps and service that all members nationwide participate in, we decided to do something for America, something for the environment, and something for the turtles. The turtles they were helping out were Diamondback terrapins, a common salt marsh species.

Diamondback Terrapin hatchlings

Every year from the months of May through July, terrapin females attempt to find the best place to lay their eggs. The highest and driest area happens to be right along the causeway and some terrapins cross the road thinking better egg-laying areas are on the other side. Unknown to them, cars use that road to get on and off the island. Every year, there are casualties along the causeway- females being hit by cars, their shells being damaged, some of them not surviving.

A project that the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has been working on, in conjunction with the University of Georgia, is to find the areas along the causeway that are frequented by females during nesting season. At those areas, wooden nest boxes have been erected to help the females find same places to nest without having to cross the road. The next boxes are built in such a way that the females can crawl in them along the bottom while the wire mesh around the boxes keeps predators such as raccoons out.

On May 11^th, we went to work making sure each nest box number was clearly marked and visible. We made sure the areas around them were weeded so the females had a clear path to get to them. We also have begun to put low-lying mesh fencing at either end of the nest boxes, to funnel the terrapins towards the boxes and away from the road. We hope that all these efforts will aid in lessening the number of injured and killed females along the causeway during the nesting season.

~Kimberly Belfer, Volunteer Management AmeriCorps Member

Nest Box

Join us for the 9th annual Turtle Crawl Triathlon this weekend!

Friday, May 20, 2011

12:00 pm – 6:00 pm Pre-Race Packet Pickup (Jekyll Island Visitor Information Center)

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Pasta Dinner & Student Art Auction at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT, Late Packet Pick-up available

Saturday, May 21, 2011 –  Great Dunes Park

5:30 AM Athlete & Volunteer arrival at Great Dunes Park

7:00 am Olympic Triathlon Start

7:00 – 7:40 Swim (Ocean)

7:30 – 10:00 Bike (Road)

9:00 – 11:00 Run (Bike Paths)

7:30 am Sprint Triathlon Start

7:30 – 8:45 Swim (Ocean)

8:00 – 10:30 Bike (Road)

9:30 – 11:30 Run (Bike Paths)

8:00 am 5K/10K Beach Race Start 

8:00 – 9:30 Run (Beach)

9:00 am – Noon Nest Fest Kids Activities (located at the Finish Line)

12:00 pm Awards Ceremony

12:30 pm Sea Turtle Release (Releasing 4 sea turtles )

Karma, a loggerhead sea turtle patient, to be release May 21st!