In partnership with Lincoln County School District, the Oregon Coast Aquarium hosts a Bilingual Youth Program, recruiting 9th-12th grade ESL students from Taft and Newport High Schools with an interest in marine life. The program, led by Aquarium Youth Program Coordinator Skye Whitney, was designed to give students the chance to learn about Oregon’s wildlife, develop professional skills, and assist the Aquarium in connecting with Spanish speakers.
Throughout the program, participants hone their communication and translation skills while learning about marine science and conservation. The students go through a streamlined version of the Aquarium’s volunteer training, with materials provided in English and Spanish. Then they go out on Aquarium grounds, well equipped to answer guest questions–from “What do seals eat?” to “How deep can a puffin dive?” And, by sharing their knowledge in Spanish, the youth volunteers make a world of difference to native speakers.
Upon completing the program, participants receive a stipend from OCAq; each student also has the option to add a special science project component to their experience, earning them science credit to put toward graduation.
“I would tell them [other bilingual students] that this is a great opportunity to get volunteer hours and good bilingual experiences. The program is really inclusive and helps you grow, not just in a skillful way and with communication, but in a personal way as well.” – 2024 Participant Journal Excerpt, Anonymous
Microplastics, Macro Impacts
2024’s science component was made possible thanks to Ocean Diagnostics, a Canada-based environmental impact company that aims to understand and address plastic pollution and biodiversity loss. Ocean Diagnostics offers toolkits to guide users through microplastic analysis, supporting global efforts to identify—and resolve—sources of pollution.
Using Ocean Diagnostics’ Microplastics Community Science Toolkits, students collected microplastics from D River Recreation Site Beach, South Beach, Nye Beach, and Otter Rock to bring back to the Aquarium for analysis.
Cue Ocean Diagnostics’ Saturna imaging technology. Each piece of plastic—no larger than a pencil-top eraser—was placed on a black and white plate featuring a QR code. The students placed a small tripod over the plate, plugged it in, and watched the analysis unfold.
Saturna rapidly scanned the microplastics, comparing them with 13 different size, shape, and color datasets to identify their sources.
The students graphed their findings from each collection site, supporting presentations about what microplastics are, potential solutions, and future implications of their results. The data collected this year will give future program participants a baseline to compare their findings with, allowing them to identify changes or trends over time.
“On paper, data is just a bunch of numbers to most people,” said Whitney, “but when you can go out and actually be a part of the data collection process, you feel so much more connected to what those numbers really mean.”
