Turtle Heroes: 4-H Club Sea Turtle Project and Contest

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Turtle Heroes: 4-H Club Sea Turtle Project and Contest

By Patrick Prentice, Exciting 4-H Club, Miami, Florida

Hi, my name is Patrick Prentice, and I’m from the Exciting 4-H Club in Miami, Florida. My club has been involved in sea turtle projects for about nine years. We’ve been helping Turtle Ranger Bill Ahern since 1992. I remember waking up at 4 am in the morning to go help Ranger Bill find sea turtle nests, and relocate the turtle nests to a turtle hatchery where they can hatch without incident. This past year we helped set up the hatchery, and almost every Friday we helped release the turtles back into the ocean.

There were three first place contestants from the contest. From left to right, they are Natalia Sagille, Pricilla Aleman, and Daniella Chisholm.Photo by Patrick Prentice

The educational program for the 5 to 11 year old 4-H members this year was studying sea turtles. The booklets used were supplied by the Sea Turtle Survival League. Activities from the books were carried out by Club Leader Kim Owen and Assistant Leader Sally Mishkin along with members from the Senior 4-H Club. All of the club members are more aware of the plight of sea turtles in our community because of this study.

Our 4-H Club held it’s first annual Sea Turtle Poster Contest, sponsored by the Sea Turtle Survival League. Mr. Bill Ahern was our Judge. We had a lot of good entries but only a few could win. There was a winner for each of three age groups. We gave all the kids that entered a certificate of participation. Thank you to the Sea Turtle Survival League for the great prizes. We hope to continue the contest in years to come.

Turtle Heroes is a newsletter for young sea turtle activists. Are you a Turtle Hero? We want to hear your story! Maybe you helped clean up beach litter, or worked with a local turtle watch group. Send us a letter or email that describes what you did to help save sea turtles. Your story might be printed in a future issue of Turtle Heroes. If you like to write poems, songs, or draw pictures of turtles, send those, too! Send you letters to: Turtle Hero, 4424 NW 13th St., Suite B-11, Gainesville, FL 32609. Or email: stc@conserveturtles.org.