Autumn 2016
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What’s Happening Public Events Calendar
B AY LINES
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More Reads New Hand on Deck pg.2 Funders’ Corner - Sand Hill Foundation pg.7
Saying Goodbye to Summer Volunteering Takes the Helm
Farewell Summer Marine Science Camp Staff meet the instructors on page 3
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Camp Navigator Making A Splash
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Funders Spotlight Sand Hill Foundation
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Thank You! Sponsors and Donors
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Education Partnership Manager Denise Mohsenin
What’s Happening With MSI Denise serves as the link between Marine Science Institute and the education community. Through developing partnerships, collaborations and marketing, she works to increase the visibility of MSI, its programs and its programs’ alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and California State Science Standards. Prior to joining MSI, Denise served as director at Pandemonium Aviaries, a non-profit focused on conservation breeding of various avian species. Denise was also the director of programs at ALearn, a non-profit serving lowincome, under-represented students in San Mateo and Santa Clara County schools by providing after school and summer math-enrichment and college-readiness programs. She has also worked as a teacher in Bay Area private and public schools. Denise has a B.S. in Journalism with an emphasis in biology.
Welcome to the Team!
Upcoming Events EVENT
L O C A TI O N
DATE
California Coastal Cleanup Day
Gray Whale Cove, HMB
Saturday, September 17 9:00am-12:00pm
Coast Weeks Event #1 Clean up Redwood Creek by Canoe**
Marine Science Institute, RWC
Saturday, September 24 9am-2pm
Port of Redwood City
Saturday, October 1 9am-4pm
Coast Weeks Event #3 Coastal Trail Hike Cleanup
Gray Whale Cove, HMB
Saturday, October 8 10am-12pm
Low Tide Walk
Pillar Point, HMB
Saturday, October 15 4pm-6pm
San Francisco EcoVoyages
Pier 40, San Francisco
Saturday, November 12 1pm-3pm and 3pm-5pm
Shark Day
Marine Science Institute, RWC
Saturday, November 19 10am-11:30am & 10:30am-12pm
Coast Weeks Event #2 BAYDAY Port Fest in Redwood City Tours aboard the R/V Robert G. Brownlee
SIG N UP AT W W W. SF BAYM SI.O RG advanced registra-on required, **par-cipants must be 5 yo+, must wear closed-‐toed shoes
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Saying Good Bye to Summer Volunteering Takes the Helm
2016 Summer Marine Science Camp Staff
Weekly Schedules
Sherry Intern Extraordinaire
This summer, I was the marine camp management intern. When I was in elementary and middle school, I came to camp here, and so it was an awesome experience to come back and learn about the other side of camp. Throughout the summer, I learned about how the camp is run and what goes into making a successful summer camp. I worked with the camp manager to create schedules so that up to nine groups of campers would never run into each other. I also helped to prepare everything that would be needed for the summer camp to run, including binders with curriculum, as well as all the ac-vi-es that would be used throughout the camp. Once camp began, I helped to make schedules for each day, make sure everything needed was set up in the morning, and generally help counselors and instructors to make sure everything went smoothly. I also looked through all the pictures taken of campers through the week and created a slide show for each week of camp. It was interes-ng to see how much work went into everyday of camp. When I came to camp, I was always excited about what was going on and was definitely always busy. Now I see how many different ac-vi-es and field trips are planned, and how much work goes into making a busy week of marine science camp. During the summer, I felt that my main job was support for the instructors and counselors, helping them have a fun, smooth camp experience. In the mornings, I would help to make sure that all the kids were here and where they needed to be, and that field trip or boat trips had everyone and were ready to go. Then, during camp, I would help to make sure all the various sta-ons were set up, and teams had the supplies that were needed. I would make sure there was enough to get through the summer, and that people were set up the way they needed to be. This summer, I would set thing up before kids got to camp, and make sure it was ready for them when it came. So I got to see the opposite side that I did when I was younger, and I got a more full picture of what goes on at this camp. I learned a lot about management and logis-cs for a group of people with a lot of moving parts, and I learned how much works it takes to make an awesome camp run for nine weeks a year.
Sherry Sanders www.sfbaymsi.org
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Camp Navigator Marine Debris Survey This summer, Marine Science Camp teamed up with the Ocean Conservancy for a marine debris survey at the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center in San Francisco. Ocean Explorer and Naturalist campers discussed oceanography and learned how wind, gyres and ocean currents direct nutrients, surface floating organisms such as plankton, and impact how marine debris get around. Marine debris is any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment. Most marine debris is plastic-based, but other common items include glass, metal, foam, and discarded or lost fishing gear. Items can be carried far from their origin or can be trapped at the center of gyres or on coastlines, frequently washing aground. Over the course of the 9 weeks of Marine Science Camp, 477 campers worked together to survey different areas of the beach and remove the debris.
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Making a Splash at Marine Science Camp By Alexandra Lee
A u t u m n 2 0 1 6!
Each summer we are excited to welcome fresh faces to the Marine Science Camp family. We also eagerly greet returning campers. One third of the campers this summer also attended camp in 2015! The constant flow of both new and returning campers keeps us on our toes. We expand upon existing curricula each year, developing new activities and planning new field trips to keep the summer not only fresh for our returning campers, but also to reflect current developments and events within the marine science community. New this summer was an exciting overnight opportunity for our Naturalists. Campers spent Thursday night of their camp week at MSI with meals, activities and a fire pit session with s’mores provided. Underwater Investigators learned about different areas of focus within the field of marine science including marine chemistry, biological oceanography, bioengineering, marine invertebrate physiology and so much more. They also learned about the gear and boats that retrieve marine debris from the Bay, and even got to tour one of the recovery vessels in Sausalito! The Underwater Investigators even saw whales on their trip aboard the R/V Robert G. Brownlee!
Camp Navigator Campers in grades 2-5 also had new off-site experiences. The Wetland Explorers visited the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park to explore the Balclutha, Eureka and Hercules and learned how these 19th-century ships helped make the San Francisco Bay one of the world’s biggest seaports. The Ocean Explorers teamed up with the Ocean Conservancy to collect data on how tidal changes, storm fronts and currents affect the distribution of trash, nutrients and floating animals. While our Plankton Pioneers do not go off-site for field trips other than their excursion on the research vessel, they did have new crafts and activities in which they touched and learned about animals from the San Francisco Bay and Pacific coast. We are also fortunate to have volunteers and instructional staff return year after year. Many of our volunteers were campers at one point, and many of our counselors were once volunteers! Most of the camp instructors teach at MSI throughout the year and are experienced marine educators that have taught prekindergarten through college marine science. This summer we welcomed new instructional staff from all over California, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Hawaii and New York! They brought with them fresh experiences and ideas, knowledge about other habitats, and differing perspectives on marine science and environmental education. As camp comes to a close and we look forward to a new school year, I am grateful for the experiences brought on by this summer. While many of our staff will return to MSI in the fall to teach, we will surely miss those who are headed off to school or positions at other institutions. Thank you for a tremendous summer; this whirlwind season was full of familiar fun, new adventures and friends, and a flood of new ideas. We hope both campers and staff will join us again next summer to experience even more of what the San Francisco Bay and Pacific coastline have to offer. As Thoreau stated, “One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” so please keep MSI in mind and join us for public and member events throughout the year.
Marine Debris Survey 3%
18%
24%
49%
Nurdles are pre-production resin pellets that look like opaque or translucent beads. These pellets become all sorts of plastic products —they are melted down and molded to make bottles, pens, straws and any number of plastic items. Nurdles are an important part of making the plastic products that we use every day—but they are also a cause for concern when accidentally lost into the water.
www.sfbaymsi.org
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Next Generation Science Standards Collaboratives
By Carlie Cooney
At the beginning of the San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative (SM ELC) workshop, Dr. Gerald Lieberman asked who of us didn’t feel comfortable with or knowledgeable about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The majority of teachers in the room raised their hands. Before we joined the SMELC, I would have raised my hand, too. But when the Marine Science Institute was approached in early 2015 to join the collaborative, we saw it as an opportunity to get a head start and dive into the NGSS. The San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative is dedicated to educating teachers about the NGSS, helping them design units of study and connecting them with local non-formal environmental educators. As a non-formal education provider, I was excited to have the opportunity to work closely with teachers and learn more about how they are making the transition to implementing the new standards in their classrooms. After taking the time to become familiar with the NGSS, it was rewarding to be able to share that knowledge with teachers and help brainstorm activities they could implement in their classrooms. The teachers that attended the institutes were phenomenal. It was inspiring to have an opportunity to work with educators that love what they do, and pour their hearts into inspiring their students and giving them the best learning opportunities possible. I had the pleasure of teaching and observing many of the programs at MSI that SMELC teachers and their classes participated in. It was obvious that they had taken time in their classrooms to prepare students for the experience. The students arrived ready to learn and quickly engaged with the material. Because they were so well prepared, we were able to dive further into the curriculum and spend more time exploring deeper connections. My favorite part of participating in SMELC was seeing the presentations from teachers after they had taught their units. In environmental education, our time with students is often limited to a one-day field trip. Although this gives us an opportunity to share our love of
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science with thousands of students each year, it often provides us with a very narrow view of their education, making it hard to tell if our programs are creating long-term impacts on students. But to see the teacher teams present and share how inspired their students were was incredible. One teacher from Corte Madera Elementary said that when we brought our rocky shore animals into her classroom for our Biomimicry program, she saw one of her new students smile for the very first time as she picked up a sea star. Another teacher from George Washington Elementary said that on their Discovery Voyage aboard our research vessel, she saw her students gain confidence in applying science. Being able to listen to teachers talk about their units as a whole and how they integrated science with other subjects widened my view of the entire environmental education experience. The teachers that took the time to prepare their students before their field trips, and then reflect and expand on their experiences once they got back to the classrooms, were the ones making the largest impact and most valuable connections for their students. It reinforces how important just one day in nature can be for formative young minds. SMELC has given us an opportunity to devote time and resources to aligning our programs with the NGSS. When we joined SMELC we created an internal NGSS team of three: our school programs Coordinator Jodi Stewart, former Education Coordinator Hayley Usedom, and me, Land Program Manager Carlie Cooney. Our team has spent weeks creating alignment documents that teachers can use to decide which programs are best aligned with their goals. As we worked our way through the grades, it became clear to me that the NGSS support the type of environmental education that we strive to provide. It’s all about getting students to actually DO science, and not just learn about it from a book. As an organization that prides itself on hands-on, inquiry-based science education, we couldn’t ask for more.
MSI is a not-for-profit education organization that relies on the generous donations of individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies for operating costs, and to ensure that program costs remain within reach for schools. We thank the donors who have made it possible for us to serve 55,000 students of all ages for the past 12 months. The list below represents those who gave between April 30 and July 31, 2016. We salute these generous supporters' commitment to high-quality science education and cultivation of environmental stewardship.
Institutional Donors
Individual Donors
$10,000 - $24,999 Rossi Family Foundation Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation Heising-Simons Foundation
$10,000 + Kung Guerra Foundation
$5,000 to $9,999 Matson Foundation Science By Nature Collaborative Wells Fargo Foundation $2,500 to $4,999 Los Altos Community Foundation $500 to $2,499 George and Ruth Bradford Foundation Facebook Local Community Fund Up to $499 Agilent Technologies Bright Funds Foundation Electronic Arts Outreach Electronic Scrip Rebate Good Roots
$250 to $499 Jeremiah Tennis John and Kristin Gilbert Chris Throm $100 - $249 Laura Bajuk Sharon Branaman Helen Colcord Christine and Richard Jeffers Parul Kapoor Martha Mosher Joan Watts George Wheaton $50 - $99 Anonymous Girls Scouts of Northern California San Carlos
Jane Land Kirtland McCaleb Hope Millholland Up to $49 Steven Axt Mr. and Mrs. Richard Haller Katie Lovewell Ms. Joyce Margaroli Household Donald and Carolyn Neeper
We strive to make this list as accurate as possible. If you find an error or omission, we sincerely apologize and ask you to contact melanie@sfbaymsi.org so that we can correct our mistakes.
Funders’ Corner • Sand Hill Foundation • Award • UPDATE
Thank You to our Donors
Marine Science Institute likes Sand Hill Foundation so much that we nominated them for a huge award—National P h i l a n t h ro py D ay 2 016 Outstanding Foundation Grant Maker—and they won!!! Not only does Sand Hill Foundation fund MSI’s multiple exposure prog ra ms for low -i ncome schools in San Mateo County bu t Sa nd Hi ll Fou nda ti on demonstrates an outstanding commitment to philanthropy through their financial support, encouragement, and motivation of all their grantees in taking leadership roles in their communities. S i n c e 19 9 5 , S a n d H i l l Foundation has provided more than $92 million in grants to organizations in San Mateo and nor thern Santa Clara counties, primarily for environmental education and out-of-school programs. Our nomination of Sand Hill Foundation for this award was expressly supported by the following organizations: Canopy, CuriOdyssey, Eastside College Preparatory School, Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, Save the Bay, Te n S t r a n d s , V i d a Ve rd e Nature Education, and Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The Association of Fundraising Professionals Silicon Valley Chapter will host a grand celebration honoring Sand Hill Foundation and several other local philanthropist awardees on Friday, November 18, 2016 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. If you’d like to join us at Silicon Valley Philanthropy Day, Please see http://afpsiliconvalley.afpnet.org for ticket information. www.sfbaymsi.org
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2015-‐2016 Winter Edi0on
MSI’s Mission Statement The Institute's mission is to cultivate a responsibility for the natural environment and our human communities through interdisciplinary science education. We achieve this goal through innovative marine science education programs that: • Place students of all ages in direct contact with the natural environment • Emphasize the interdependence of all living things, their connection to the physical environment, and the special responsibilities of humans to the environment • Facilitate active learning through the use of observation, critical thinking, and problem solving skills in a
Board of Trustees 2015-2016
cooperative setting • Instill confidence, encourage involvement, and inspire accomplishment by providing positive role models.
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Seeking Spectacular Board Members
OFFICERS
Jim Crawford, Chair James Roberts, Treasurer Andrea Aust, Sec. & Board Development
DIRECTORS AT LARGE
Sean M. Caplice Julian Osinski Norman Chen
We're looking for a few talented and conscientious volunteer board members to lead and strengthen the Marine Science Institute as we complete and launch our new strategic plan. If you can contribute your time, thoughtfulness and leadership one day per quarter plus some additional events, and are interested in exploring this opportunity, please contact Marilou Seiff at marilou@sfbaymsi.org to learn more about this volunteer opportunity. We're especially looking for people with accounting, real estate and/or fundraising experience. Please visit our website at www.sfbaymsi.org for more information.
Fall 2016 BayLines Created by Tiff Murzi-Moyce. Edited by Andrea Aust. Special thanks to Sherry Sanders. Marine Science Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not for profit organization ©2016. All Rights Reserved