How the young teaches us

On an overcast spring day when the sun was not expected to shine, over 1,000 kindergarten to senior high school students from New York’s five boroughs flocked to Governors Island. For what felt like a ferry ride that took only 10 blinks, I felt the excitement of a crowd of eager children, carrying dioramas, poster boards, contraptions, machines, etc., along with their teachers and us, guest reviewers. Yet that less than five-minute cruise steered me to a transformative gathering of like-minded individuals who tirelessly plant seeds of change to make a lasting impact in our environment.

When my good friend, Vicky Maronilla-Abueg, director for Finance of Billion Oyster Project (BOP), asked if I would be interested to join as a guest reviewer in BOP’s yearly student symposium, I said yes with great enthusiasm. After attending an instructive forum about how BOP, as a non-profit, works for the restoration and protection of New York’s water resources and natural surroundings amidst massive urbanization and climate change, I sensed that through volunteerism we could likewise help in their innovative undertakings. Because of the life-changing stories Vicky had told me on the impact of the science fair-like event on the lives of the young (and older ones like us!), I looked forward to being part of the immersive experience.

At the training and orientation, we were briefed that as guest reviewers (a less intimidating term for judges) we need not worry if it’s our first time to participate. Those who had joined in the past solicitously related their encouraging experiences to the greenhorns. We were coached on the matrices, grouped in teams of three and given a sample project to review.

Now on its 11th year, BOP’s annual event sets the pathway for New York’s students from schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Long Island, Manhattan and Queens to exhibit, explore and reflect on their learning and translate them into research projects as they relate to their local waterways and the environment. Anchored on the principle “restoration without education is temporary,” the student-led research showcased the creative expressions and eco-consciousness of young scientists.

On symposium day, students, teachers, reviewers and the BOP team assembled at the vast tent area enclosed under a canopy of towering trees where over 100 projects were mounted. As reviewers, we were expected to thoughtfully examine and evaluate the projects and ask reflective questions using a matrix as reference. With me in the team were Emma, who teaches biology and marine sciences, and Eli, a guide and educator at New York’s harbor parks. My interactions with them initiated me to their astonishing vocation as hands-on educators and guardians of New York’s water resources and natural environment. It was one thing to be a guest reviewer interacting with students, who I considered my instructors for the day, and another thing to deliberate with my fellow reviewers, whose ideas at our consolidation work I came to value more.

We were assigned six projects each and I reviewed two individual and four team outputs. Avery, whose research focused on “Building a climate resilient New York City,” explored “living breakwaters” as natural ecosystems to protect shorelines while promoting marine life.

From Avery’s research, I learned that while floodwalls and levees with climbable slopes are permanent structures that protect shorelines from storm surges, “living shorelines, revetments and floating islands” could provide sustainable shoreline protection to the ecosystem. Using a sponge and a bowl of water to represent plants, soil and sand, she demonstrated how living breakwaters, when properly designed and built, could serve as natural habitats for fish, crabs, oysters and other marine life.

Avery recalled that at a class field trip she discovered how New York’s shores were so pristine over a century ago, people leisurely walked along coastlines and enjoyed the translucent waters teeming with marine life. While it may no longer be possible to bring back the coasts exactly as they were, Avery’s research hypothesizes that sustainably designed “low cost living breakwaters can serve as natural habitats of marine species that could help stabilize shorelines.” She dreams of becoming a writer and be able to conduct more extensive research on how to protect New York’s waters someday.

One of the team projects I reviewed was “Our aquaponics proposal.” Aquaponics is a portmanteau for aquarium and hydroponics. The team of sixth to eighth graders remarkably designed and built an aquaponics machine which, to their mind, could serve as “a solution to the problem of hunger and food injustice.”

In our animated discussion, all four passionate young scientists shared how outlining a hypothesis on whether natural or artificial fish food could result in an efficient aquaponics system guided their research. They developed and tested the right formula for plants and fish feeds and concluded that it helped boost their aquaponics system and optimized the use of the machine to grow food.

Talking almost in unison, Tiffany, Ren, Hudley and Zephyr zealously asked me, “Imagine if every home has an aquaponics machine that grows plants on top and raises fish at the bottom?” No one would go hungry, I happily replied, to which they said, “Yes!” I was floored just visualizing how the problem of hunger could indeed be addressed if every home has an aquaponics machine.

After reviewing the projects and writing personalized notes to commend the students for their innovative works, our team deliberated on which of the projects deserved an exemplary project sticker – a gold badge of honor stuck on their certificate in recognition of their excellent work.

When the sun finally shone toward the end of the event, we each handed our personalized letters and certificates for exemplary work to the students. I gleaned from their young, vibrant faces the sunniest images of hope. I imagined how, in our country obsessed with grand street parties, festivals and beauty contests, our NGOs, LGUs, in collaboration with school networks and private individuals, could likewise take inspiration from that life-changing symposium.