Teen leadership inspires conservation

Inspiring teens and young adults to become global citizens — young leaders who have confidence, enthusiasm, and knowledge to address environmental challenges — is central to our mission. We can’t hope to manage the significant and growing threats to ocean health without a committed group of young people leading the way.

Key to our efforts is Teen Conservation Leaders — our flagship program for high school students. The program builds teens’ leadership, collaboration, and communication skills as they provide volunteer service at the Aquarium. Each summer, you’ll find more than 50 young people in our galleries and outside near the Great Tide Pool, interpreting our exhibits and ocean wildlife to visitors.

Our Education team also mentors alumni of our teen programs so they can deepen their commitment to ocean conservation. The results were on display in April when two alumni who were engaged in a yearlong internship — Annabella Aguirre and Hannah Browne — collaborated with a group of teens to plan and host a public event called “Fashion Without the Footprint” at the Bechtel Education Center.

The teens chose “fast fashion” because clothing manufacturing creates a high volume of clothing — and waste — in a short amount of time. During the event, visitors participated in hands-on activities focused on the concept of slow fashion. In contrast to fast fashion, slow fashion emphasizes starting with sustainable materials, reusing them, and recycling them into materials that can be used again.