School Recruiting and The Skit – 12 June 2017

With school visits in San Pedro to recruit kids for the summer camps, program fund-raising, advertising the camps on local radio and TV, and fieldwork for three ongoing marine science research projects, Week 2 is a very busy time for the Coral Ed Team. Yesterday morning, the Team made a recruiting visit to the Roman Catholic Elementary School. Unlike in the States, Belize does not have a truly public elementary school system. Rather the elementary schools are religiously affiliated or “for profit” private schools. The RC school is by far the largest elementary school in San Pedro with an enrollment of ~900 students, so it is prime recruiting ground for the Coral Ed program.

The team was up and out early to present a skit to advertise the Coral Reef Ed-Ventures youth camp (ages 7-11) and the R.E.E.F. camp (formerly known as Advanced Camp, this year’s team has created a new name: Reef Ecology & Environment = Fun). By 8 a.m., the entire student body of the RC School was assembled and called to order in the main square of the school campus (Photos #1 & 2). After a brief opening ceremony (Photo #3) and with the team “on the bench” (Photo #4), team leader Mandy Castro took over to advertise the camps and to introduce our student teachers (Photo #5). The skit (Photo #6) was designed to present the activities of the youth camp in a fun format that would generate interest among the students and encourage them to sign up with permission slips, now available at several central places in town.

The Skit went over well and got enthusiastic applause. We hope to register about 80 to 100 students to our Youth Camp and at least 15 students for R.E.E.F. camp. Just what would happen if we attracted more than 100 kids is a big unknown, but the potential certainly is there…!

Photo #1: RC students forming up for assembly, just before 8 a.m. on Monday, June 12.

Photo #2: Overview of central campus square, RC School, San Pedro, with the entire school population present. The Coral Ed team is on stage, lower right.