RIHS Environmental Action Club

Rock Island High School’s Environmental Action Club, sponsored by Nancy Wolber, will travel to Costa Rica June 9-19, 2015,where they will spend 10 days exploring the country. They will spend three days at a turtle research station patrolling the beach at night for leatherback turtles. During these patrols, the group may come across female turtles coming to shore to lay eggs. Students will then collect the eggs to relocate them to a protected hatchery so they can be released safely in about 60 days. Studentswill also participate in a beach cleanup and educational games during the daytime while at the turtle research station. The groupdonates supplies that have collected throughout the year that include: latex gloves, calipers to measure the baby turtles, flashlights, and backpacks for the night patrols.

The remainder of their time in Costa Rica will be spent visiting schools and distributing donated supplies, participating in a family stay where students experience the “real” Costa Rican life style, complete a service project of planting over 100 trees in one morning, visit an indigenous tribe known as the Bri-Bri to learn about their culture, zip-line through the rainforest, white-water raft down a local river, tour an organic farm, and hike around the Arenal Volcano.

The students work at various events in the community over 18 months to help generate money for the trip, which cost about $2,000 without airfare.