Empowering Tomorrow's Environmental Leaders | Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center

Last summer, the Aquarium saw a record-breaking number of participants for our summer education program, Watershed Warriors, and a couple weeks ago, the program returned with approximately 45 eager youth volunteers who will gain the knowledge, values, and responsibility needed to conserve our watershed for years to come. This program teaches youth ages 12 to 19 valuable environmental knowledge and science communication skills surrounding the Chesapeake Bay watershed. During this ten-week session, the participants coined as “Watershed Warriors” will learn field skills, teach Aquarium guests at education stations, and receive professional development for future careers in environmental science.

Created from college-level courses, the program has Watershed Warriors conduct volunteer shifts starting with field research, and followed by education programs they host on the exhibit floor to teach guests about scientific concepts they’ve learned. Topics can include connections to the local watershed, plastic pollution, marine life impacts, and more. Over the summer, the students develop public speaking skills with an emphasis on personal style, and learn how to explain complex scientific concepts in ways that are easy for others to understand.

This year's Watershed Warrior program is operated and overseen by a full-time Aquarium staff member, two college-level Batten fellows, and an intern. These college-aged leaders help design and implement weekly station themes, engagement strategies, and skills training. They also oversee logistical tasks such as taking attendance, setting up and breaking down stations, organizing materials, and capturing guest interaction data for program improvement. This summer, Batten Fellow, Amalia, is working on how to design stations to encourage more micro-activism actions from guests. Batten Fellow, Madison, is uncovering what milestones and building confidence in our youth volunteers really looks like, and intern Piper is focused on leading zero-waste and plastic-free efforts.

Following these students are the Watershed Warrior Ambassadors - experienced participants who act as student mentors - and base-level Watershed Warriors who are newer to the program. Returning Watershed Warriors interested in being Ambassadors are formally interviewed, providing them with real world interviewing experience and giving confidence to students to take on bigger roles and more responsibility in their future careers. The Ambassadors provide support with photo documentation, facilitation of engagement techniques, and weekly challenges that build team morale and deepen environmental understanding.

Program participants also engage in community action to support their learning. Last year, Warriors took to Virginia’s local beaches and cleaned up trash found on the coastlines. After only a few hours, the team collected 55 pounds of trash, diverting a substantial amount of litter from local waterways. Single-use plastic represents around 40% of the global plastic market and comprises much of the total amount of plastic waste generated. As a result, single use plastics are some of the most encountered and identifiable items found in coastlines and other environmental cleanups worldwide.

In turn, the Watershed Warriors' education stations focus on biodegradation and bioaccumulation, namely how plastics biodegrade and how microplastics collect in animals when introduced to the environment. The Watershed Warriors use interactive games and activity stations to engage our guests on these topics. For example, to teach about bioaccumulation in fish species, the volunteers allow guests to “feed” plastic beads to a small toy fish. Then, the guest will have a medium-sized fish “eat” the smaller fish, and finally have the biggest fish “eat” the medium-sized fish. Guests would see how plastics stay inside the fish and learn microplastics don’t disappear, but simply relocate. In another station example, to teach about biodegradation, the Warriors used a guessing game on how long common items such as paper, wood, and plastic take to biodegrade in the environment.

Some of the Watershed Warriors activity stations help guests further connect and learn about the animals at the Aquarium, like our North American River otter. In the otter habitat creation station, Watershed Warriors let guests create their own otter habitat out of rocks, sticks, moss, or water features, teaching the importance of otter conservation and the significance of otter habitats. Stations like these educate visitors in a fun, interactive way, and allow our team to engage in meaningful discussions with them.

Additionally, each year the Watershed Warriors learn how to operate the Aquarium’s Science-on-the-Go station, which informs guests about microplastics in the ocean environment. Warriors may use a “planktoscope” to show guests water samples and various tissue samples, then teach guests to investigate, explore, and learn what should and should not be found in water. This scientific tool provides a detailed look at plankton and microplastics, and the Warriors learn to engage through discussing conservation, implementing biofacts, and asking simple questions.

Education programs are a cornerstone to the Aquarium’s mission, and our Watershed Warriors program remains rooted, resilient, and ready to grow the next generation of environmental stewards. We look forward to having our guests meet this year's team this summer!