Here are some pictures taken on the boat today!

Whale Watching Trip!

Today, I went with Frances on a whale watching field trip! We escorted a fourth grade class from Kimbrough Elementary school onto a boat which left from the San Diego Bay and into ocean water in which Gray Whales swim for their path of migration.  The purpose of this trip was to educate children more about the whales and their habitat and to increase their interest in the subject by actually giving them a chance to experience this wildlife up close and personal.  These students are also writing to pen pals in Mexico in an effort to have both countries work together in order to keep the whales thriving and to prevent them from becoming endangered.  I think that this was an amazing opportunity to be given to children especially at such a young age, even I was extremely excited about the opportunity! We saw about four or five whales playing in the water, many dolphins, and a few sea lions, all of which caused the children to be overwhelmed with excitement.

Last Thursday I went along with Frances Kinney to visit a classroom of 6th graders who were writing to their pen pals in Mexico.  The purpose of this pen pal idea is an effort for children in both the U.S. and Mexico to work together to help our environment and do what they can to save the Sea Turtles.  As Frances explained to the students, this is important because since sea turtles have no understanding of the line that the border represents, it is necessary for both countries to work together.  It was fun to see how excited the children got about writing to kids in another country, and how the Spanish speakers really made an effort to help out and work together with the English speakers so that they could write their letters in Spanish.
Here are some pictures of the kids working together!

The Ocean Connectors Kids page has also been updated, go to http://www.propeninsula.org/content/1/1/14.html to check out new pictures from the latest field trips and the new animated turtle graphic!

Wild&Scenic page is up!

The Wild & Scenic page is up on our website! Visit www.propeninsula.org/wildscenic to check it out and get details about the time, dates, prices for the film festival and to learn more about what it is.  You can order tickets and make donations online from this page.  I have been spending some time on photoshop putting together the final designs for the official post card and poster for the event, which will be posted on the page as well.  Check it out, you don't want to miss out on the opportunity!

Nature Center Photos

   

Chula Vista Nature Center Field Trip

Today I took a break from working on marketing for the film festival and went along on a field trip with Frances.  We gave a 7th grade class from Montgomery Middle School a tour of the fascinating Chula Vista Nature Center.  The class was split into groups and took turns exploring the inside aquariums and outside animal exhibits, learning and taking notes about the animals that they were observing.  A nature center isn't something I would normally expect to be very interested in, but when we arrived, I was actually very excited about the interesting exhibits and the beautiful scenery that surrounded them.  The students were able to see sea turtles being fed and were crowded around the tank taking photos.  I think that this field trip was an excellent idea, because it increased the childrens' awareness of some the beautiful animals that are becoming endangered.  Overall, the trip was definitely a success.  I took many pictures throughout the day and will be posting them in my next blog.

Wild and Scenic Film Festival

With the Wild and Scenic environmental film festival coming up in March, now is the time to start preparing by working on creating the poster for this years festival and going through movie trailers for the different choices for films that will be chosen this year.  It is difficult, because there are many choices and only a limited amount of time.  The film festival will be split up into two days, each lasting about an hour and 30 minutes and containing a feature film and a few shorter films to accompany it.  We are choosing which movies to feature out of a list of about 55 films, ranging from about 5 minutes long to lover 100 minutes long.  The films are covering current widespread environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, sustainable agriculture and growth, and the contamination of our oceans.  All of the videos contain powerful and sometimes startling facts and people who are passionate about making a difference in the environment.  Narrowing the selection down to a few that can fit within our time frame is difficult, but some stand out more than others. The ones that caught my attention the most are some of the longer, higher budget films that may not be possible to fit into the two days and the time frame that we are given, but below I have listed a few of my favorites so far.  If you have any ideas as to which subjects should be featured and which movies you prefer, let me know what you think!

"Fuel"-112 min.


"No Impact Man"-93 min.


"The Ripple Effect"-34 min.


"A Sea Change"-64 min.


"Nourish"-26 min.

My name is Alia Boynton, I am just starting off my internship here at Pro Peninsula.  In the past couple of days, I have learned a great amount about this company and am very excited about my experience of being an intern here for the month of January.  Here at the Pro Peninsula office, we are finally wrapping up the holiday push, which was a very successful period in which the company achieved over $10,000 in funds from donations, actually exceeding their goals.  Pro Peninsula has just recently merged with the Ocean Foundation, which is the first community foundation for the oceans. This merge was fairly recent, so Pro Peninsula is still  adjusting to becoming a fund within a larger company.  In March, there will be an environmental film festival, we are currently visiting locations for where the festival will take place and putting together a team of people to help determine which videos will make it. I am excited to begin my experience as an intern for Pro Peninsula, and will be continuing to post updates on what is happening!