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PROGRAMS > EDUCATION > SCIENCE & SPANISH CLUB > SSC ARCHIVES

Gulf of Mexico Foundation
Science & Spanish Club Network

One of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's most innovative programs is a multicultural outreach project working to bring English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students together through science education. Established in 2000, the GMF Science & Richard Gonzales photo Spanish Club Network (SSCN) is an extracurricular multicultural approach to coastal environmental education.

Directed by Project Coordinator Richard Gonzales of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, the multicultural science club project is funded through grants from the Texas General Land Office, the EPA, NOAA and the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.

The program strives to develop youth leadership through teaching stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico and the greater Gulf Stream ecosystem. The network stretches along the gulf coast, with 13 sites along the Texas gulf coast, 2 along the Mexico gulf coast and one in Puerto Rico. Participating clubs include public school districts, Boys & Girls Clubs and private schools (see list of club locations at right). About 7,500 students have participated in the program since the year 2000.

The GMF SSCN works to establish people-to-people relations Science & Spanish Club between the U.S. and Mexico to address environmental concerns. Club meetings are held in both English and Spanish to not only help English-speaking students learn Spanish but to give students whose primary language is Spanish a chance to learn in their native tongue. Together, the students learn language and science skills through participating in environmentally oriented educational projects focused on the Gulf of Mexico and the watersheds that empty into it. Activities include dragging seine nets through bay waters to learn firsthand what lives beneath the surface, kayaking through wetlands to monitor animal and plant life, cleaning up trash along coastal areas, and attending events such as Earth Day.

Carrie Robertson photo The GMF Science & Spanish Club's goal is to develop a cadre of young students who are knowledgeable about coastal society, both as observers and residents. In addition, it strives to teach students the importance of building long-distance, long-term relationships.

The project’s long-term plan is to connect the middle school network currently in place to middle schools in the other gulf states (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida). Plans also include establishing counterpart connections along the gulf states of Mexico: Tamaulipas, Vera Cruz, Campeche, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Yucatan.

The GMF's SSCN was originally designed as a coastal environmental education program for middle school students but, since it now has "alumni" who have moved on to high school, the program has begun to reach out at the high school level as well, starting with Aransas Pass High School in Texas.

Video about GMF's Science & Spanish Network's 2009 Gulf Guardian Award
To watch video, click on image above or watch it on YouTube

Science & Spanish Club News

    Aug 2010 - SSCN to include sites along Whooping Crane trail
    July 2010 - GMF educates visitors about seagrass at Expo
    July 2010 - Gonzales revisits tall ships via Jumbotron tent
    June 2010 - Faculty experience conservation across boundaries
    June 2010 - Ingleside SSC makes use of oil spill updates
    June 2010 - Clubs participate in Aransas Pass Shrimporee
    June 2010 - SSCN faculty participate in training, planning event
    May 2010 - Gonzales provides assistance at Girl Scouts event
    May 2010 - Port Lavaca club tours Texas State University
    April 2010 - Matamoros SSC participates in Earth Day fair
    April 2010 - Brownsville students plant trees near school
    April 2010 - Clubs represent greater Gulf ecosystem in parade
    March 2010 - Trash Parade becomes parade inside of parade
    March 2010 - Sinton, Corpus clubs clean up Lighthouse Lakes
    March 2010 - GMF develops bilingual mangrove information
    March 2010 - Students meet US Forest Service mascots
    March 2010 - SSCN students proclaim World Seagrass Day
    Feb 2010 - SSCN gains partners at Whooping Crane event
    Feb 2010 - SSCN follows 'whoopers' from Texas to Canada
    Feb 2010 - Students join Winter Texans in advocacy group
    Older articles

SSCN to include sites along Whooping Crane trail
Aug 2010 - The GMF's Science & Spanish Club Network will be collaborating with several entities as it looks to develop a Whooping Crane curriculum over the next two years. “We are also adding sites along the other Whooping Crane migratory path from Necedah, Wisconsin to St. Marks, Florida, said

Cam Baker, Chief of Staff for the Office of the Minister Environment, points to the path of the migratory Whooping Crane through his Province of Saskatchewan

Richard Gonzales, SSCN Project Coordinator. After the end points of the two pathways are in place within the SSCN, the GMF will look to add the most motivated communities where Whoopers tend to stop along the way.
Cam Baker (photo at right), Chief of Staff for the Office of the Minister Environment, points to the path of the migratory Whooping Crane through his Province of Saskatchewan as it travels from there to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Austwell, Texas. The Canadian delegation was invited by the World Affairs Council and the US State Department to the Coastal Bend of Texas to explore new Climate Change policies.

GMF educates visitors about seagrass at Expo

GMF's Richard Gonzales and a volunteer display "Seagrass Dice" in the GMF booth at the Texas Coastal Expo on July 24 at the Texas State Aquarium.
July 2010 - Working in the GMF's booth, SSCN Project Coordinator Richard Gonzales discussed the importance of seagrasses with some of the 5,000 visitors to the Texas General Land Office Coastal Expo on July 24 at the Texas State Aquarium. During the event, the GMF promoted its World Seagrass Day through its trademark Seagrass Dice Game. The Seagrass dice feature the five main species of seagrasses found along the Texas coastline. To win, participants pronounce common and scientific names and use observation skills to recognize when they have two or more of a kind.

Gonzales revisits tall ships via Jumbotron tent

Jumbotron tent at Sail South Texas 2010 - click to enlarge

GMF's Richard Gonzales worked in the Jumbotron tent during the Sail South Texas 2010 event at former Ingleside Navy Station, Ingleside, Texas in July.
July 2010 - GMF SSCN Project Coordinator Richard Gonzales was chair of the Jumbotron Tent at the Sail South Texas 2010 event held at the former Navy Station Ingleside, Texas, over the Fourth of July weekend. Thousands of visitors came to see the four tall ships that sailed to Texas from four countries (Mexico, Chile, Uruguay and the US) and docked at Ingleside to offer free tours to the public. Gonzales' role in the event included showing World Cup soccer matches on a large Jumbotron screen, while revisiting the tall ships, which he had served on in 1976 as a US Coast Guard cadet. While working with the Jumbotron, Gonzales explored other ways to use the technology for SSCN distance-learning opportunities.

Faculty experience conservation across boundaries

SSCN faculty sponsor Yolanda Aviles at Welder Wildlife Refuge in June.

To learn more about the Gulf of Mexico watershed, SSCN faculty sponsor Yolanda Aviles traveled to the headwaters of the Missouri River in Montana.
June 2010 - Corpus Christi Martin Middle School SSC faculty sponsors Yolanda Aviles and Billie Swacker participated in hands-on training June 18-30 through a Gulf of Mexico watershed experience. The pair joined other classroom teachers and graduate students from the Welder Wildlife Refuge to explore the ecology of the Welder Wildlife Refuge in Sinton, Texas, a part of the Mission-Aransas Bay ecosystem. Afterwards, they traveled to the headwaters of the Missouri River to the Boone-Crockett Club in Missoula, Montana. There will be future collaboration between the SSCN and Welder Refuge for sending more SSCN faculty for summer training. The faculty participated through the Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program Grant Cycle 13. The focus was on the science behind the conservation and management of fish, wildlife and their habitats common to two North American eco regions: the coastal prairies and marshes of south Texas and the short-grass prairie and mountains of north-central Montana.

Ingleside SSC makes use of oil spill updates

Ingleside SSC faculty sponsor Robin Flores keeps class informed on spill.
June 2010 - The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010 will be in history books in the future. But for the present, everyday updates on this ecological tragedy is helping to keep faculty and students of all grades better informed than just watching the national news reports. The Gulf of Mexico Foundation has been sending out daily updates to the faculty of the SSCN as a way to provide science-based information to help students better understand the challenge of finding a solution to the oil spill. Students at the Blaschke-Sheldon Elementary School SSC in Ingleside have benefitted from faculty sponsor Robin Flores' use of streaming CNN all day and then conducting classroom discussion on the problem-solving process. In addition, they receive an explanation of how oil rigs work, based on knowledge that Flores gained while attending a SSC training session last year at Anadarko in Houston. This is of special interest to Ingleside students, many of whose parents work at Gulf Marine Fabricators or Kiewit, both major fabricators of offshore oil and gas platforms.

Clubs participate in Aransas Pass Shrimporee

SSCN students pass out stewardship info during Aransas Pass Shrimporee.
June 2010 - SSCs from Sinton, Aransas Pass, Ingleside and Corpus Christi, Texas, handed out more than 4,000 coastal stewardship information pieces in their Redfish Bay Seagrass Tent during the Aransas Pass Shrimporee June 11-13. In addition, students recorded 193 responses to a survey they conducted on waterfront development at nearby Conn Brown Harbor, as part of a Coastal Management Program grant. Students also helped the Keep Aransas Pass Beautiful group introduce an on-site recycling program for aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

SSCN faculty participate in training, planning event

SSCN faculty sponsors participate in a training and planning session.
June 2010 - SSCN faculty sponsors participated in a training and planning session June 9-10 at the Sinton ISD Discovery Center. Seven sponsors from the Texas towns of Van Vleck, Sinton, Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Aransas Pass and Rockport were trained on the use of distance-learning technology, reviewed the SSCN manual, helped to design the new SSCN t-shirt and banner, made a Conn Brown Harbor Cleanup display and selected November 6 as the date for the 6th Annual Youth Leadership in Stewardship Conference to be held at the Aransas Pass Civic Center.

Gonzales provides assistance at Girl Scouts event
GMF's Richard Gonzales at the Girl Scouts of South Texas "Forever Green" event held in May.

GMF's Richard Gonzales wears a hat made from reusable newspaper at the Girl Scouts of South Texas "Forever Green" event held in May.
May 2010 - GMF SSCN Project Coordinator Richard Gonzales provided coastal environmental education outreach assistance to the South Texas Girl Scout Council during the "Forever Green" event held May 8 in Corpus Christi. This new collaboration is part of the preparation for the Girl Scout's centennial celebration set for March 12, 2012, for which all troops will prepare an environmental project. Girl Scout Troops have participated in SSCN events in Port Isabel, Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass, Texas.

Port Lavaca club tours Texas State University

Port Lavaca SSC members visit Texas State University in San Marcos.
May 2010 - The Port Lavaca SSC traveled with 38 students up the Guadalupe River watershed to San Marcos on May 25 to Texas State University. Students toured the campus and learned about possible careers from receiving a college education. “These students really need to have a college campus exposure to make it more real for them to make a higher education decision,” said Sherrie Krause, faculty sponsor. “There was a lot of discussion on science careers, but the focus was on the college experience like financial aid and dormitory lifestyle,” she added. The Port Lavaca SSC has been exploring and studying the Guadalupe watershed for seven years. The sixth graders who first started this watershed experience were members of the graduating class of 2010.

Matamoros SSC participates in Earth Day fair

SSCN students from Mexico meet a Turtle Patroler from Rancho Nuevo.
April 2010 - GMF Science & Spanish Club members from Colegio Juvenal Rendon de Matamoros conducted public outreach with thousands of attendees at the first ever "Feria Ambiental" on April 18 at the Plaza Muincipal in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico as part of Earth Day celebrations held all over the world. During the event, the students met a volunteer Turtle Patroler from Rancho Nuevo, Mexico's main Kemp's Ridley Turtle nesting area along the Tamaulipan Gulf Coast.

Brownsville students plant trees near school

April 24 - Students from the Dr. Garcia Middle School SSC in Brownsville conducted the 4th Annual Earth Day Arbor Day on campus with about 25 students planting trees and cleaning up around the Sabol Palm Forest in the back of the school building. Photo: Carson Krook

Clubs represent greater Gulf ecosystem in parade

4th Annual Bahia Grande Limpienato Parade

Students from Los Fresnos and Port Isabel, Texas, hold up state flags of Kansas, Wisconsin, Maryland, Kentucky and Georgia as they prepare to march with the Upper 33 Club banner, representing the greater Gulf of Mexico ecosystem at the 4th Annual Bahia Grande Limpienato Parade and Coastal Cleanup held in South Texas on April 17, 2010.

Trash Parade becomes parade inside of parade

SSCN students participate in the Redfish Bay Seagraass & Trash Parade - click to enlarge

SSCN students participate in the Redfish Bay Seagraass & Trash Parade.
March 2010 - SSC students from Sinton, Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass and Ingleside, Texas, joined their fifth Annual Redfish Bay Seagrass & Trash Parade on March 6 with the Fulton Volunteer Fire Department's 31st Annual OysterFest Parade, in effect becoming a parade within a parade. "This collaboration gave us exposure to thousands of people who live in our shared ecosystem. At the same time, we helped to make this the biggest parade OysterFest has ever had," said GMF Project Leader Richard Gonzales. Along the parade route the students gave out several outreach items, including Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries satellite maps and Earth Day Bay Day posters, USFWS National Wildlife Refuge maps, Texas Parks & Wildlife fish rulers, Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach calendars and beach balls, Lower Colorado River Authority wildflower seeds and International Crane Society Whooping Crane posters. Corpus
Christi Martin Middle School SSC won a fourth place trophy in the Best Youth entry for the event.

Sinton, Corpus clubs clean up Lighthouse Lakes

Sinton student uses crutch as a grabber - click to enlarge

One Sinton student recuperating from a broken ankle uses her crutches as a grabber to help pick up trash during the March 6 cleanup.
March 2010 - More than 60 SSCN students from Corpus Christi and Sinton, Texas, conducted a coastal cleanup at the Lighthouse Lakes Trail Park on Redfish Bay in Aransas Pass on March 6. The event took place along the old Aransas Pass to Port Aransas Highway, now known as Redfish Bay Causeway. The students collected 1,325 pounds of trash including a broken recliner.

GMF develops bilingual mangrove information

March 2010 - Through a grant from the Texas General Land Office's Coastal Management Program, SSCN Project Leader Richard Gonzales is working to create a bilingual "Mangroves of the Gulf and Caribbean" guide for the GMF website by assembling various educational materials on mangroves, in both Spanish and English. The first of four parts of the guide was created by the Jobos Bay NERR (Bahia de Jobos), which is under Puerto Rico's Departamento de Recursos Naturales & Ambientales.

Mangrove General Information - click to open PDF

What Does a Mangrove Need to Grow? click to open PDF

MANGROVE GENERAL INFORMATION (PDF 1MB)
WHAT DOES A MANGROVE NEED TO GROW? (PDF 1MB)

Students meet US Forest Service mascots
March 2010 - SSCN students from Aransas Pass posed with Smokey the Bear and Woodsy the Owl, who made a cameo appearance at the First
Seagrass Festival of Knowledge held March 5 in Aransas Pass, Texas.

SSCN students with Smokey the Bear and Woodsy the Owl - click to enlarge

The mascots were brought to the event by US Forest Service Conservation Education Coordinator, Tambelry Conway, to greet the more than 350 student participants who learned about the importance of seagrasses along the Texas Gulf Coast. "Now we are in a position to show these students the importance of grasslands, especially within the Coastal Plains, and their relationship to the estuarine ecosystem," said Richard Gonzales, SSCN project coordinator. "There are new initiatives amongst federal agencies to work more closely together and to then implement projects with local governments and organizations that help to connect inland and coastal ecosystems, and we hope to become a part of this process through the US Forest Service," Gonzales added.

SSCN students proclaim World Seagrass Day
March 2010 - On March 5, SSCN member Adrien Young read a proclamation announcing the first Friday in March will be designated "World Seagrass Day." On the giant screen behind him inside the Civic Center in Aransas Pass, Texas, were moving images provided by live video links with Canada and Mexico, partners in the effort. World Seagrass Day will help increase public education and awareness of the importance of seagrassses on planet Earth. The proclamation was read as part of the First Seagrass Festival of Knowledge attended by fifth and sixth graders from Charlie Marshall Elementary School in Aransas Pass.

READ PROCLAMATION (PDF)

SSCN gains partners at Whooping Crane event

SSC Faculty Sponsor Yolanda Aviles, left, sets up speaking engagement with International Crane Foundation representative.

February 2010 - Representatives from the GMF's SSCN attended the Whooping Crane Festival held in Port Aransas, Texas, February 25-28. SSCN representatives worked from the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge booth, giving out information and communicating with festival goers. The next booth over belonged to the International Crane Foundation (ICF). During the event, Aransas Pass SSC faculty sponsor Yolanda Aviles visited with ICF Education Outreach Coordinator Jean Garland and arranged for her to speak to the Aransas Pass SSC middle school students on March 2. Garland will also speak to Sinton's SSC.

VIEW PHOTOS FROM EVENT ON FLICKR

SSCN follows 'whoopers' from Texas to Canada

GMF SSCN Project Leader Richard Gonzales (center) poses with Canadians Don Jaque and his wife Sandra during a visit from Canada to the Texas Coast. The Canadians, who live near where Whooping Cranes summer, visited the endangered birds' wintering grounds with Gonzales.
February 2010 - The GMF’s SSCN has partnered with wildlife protection agencies in both Texas and Canada to connect people on both ends of the migration route of the endangered Whooping Crane. The effort's goal was to "broaden the scope of human support for the whooper's population growth," said SSCN Project Leader Richard Gonzales. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) are the two agencies participating in the SSCN's project. A grant from the Coastal Management Program helped fund the distance learning aspect of the project, which connected the middle school students in Texas with WBNP staff in Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories via a live video hook-up in November. In February, three months later, Don Jaque, president of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce in Canada, visited the Texas coast while on a family vacation and met up with Gonzales, who accompanied Jacque and his family to view Whooping Cranes at ANWR. The encounter helped nurture the connection between Texas and Canada, which Gonzales hopes will ultimately help the endangered birds. The newspaper in Aransas Pass, Texas, did an article on the encounter.

READ NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Students join Winter Texans in advocacy group

February 2010 - The GMF's Science & Spanish Club Network is now complemented by an adult-based club called the "Upper 33 Club," made up of about 60 computer-literate retirees from the US and Canada who winter in Texas. "Upper 33" refers to the 31 USA states and two Canadian provinces that are located within the Gulf of Mexico watershed. The Upper 33 Club helps teach the youth-based SSCN members science-based knowledge that the students can use to advocate for conservation of the Gulf of Mexico watershed or "Gulfshed." GMF Project Leader Richard Gonzales was the mastermind behind the Upper 33 Club, gathering "Winter Texans" in his area who were interested in sharing information with the middle school SSCN students that he oversees.

Older articles

Gulf of Mexico Foundation - PMB 51, 5403 Everhart - Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(800) 884-4175 toll free - (361) 882-3939 phone - (361) 882-1262 fax
e-mail: info@gulfmex.org website: gulfmex.org
webmaster: Carrie Robertson

SSCN SPONSORS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SSCN PARTNERS

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce

Cameron County Parks & Recreation Department

City of Aransas Pass

City of Laguna Vista

City of Los Fresnos

City of Port Lavaca

City of South Padre Island

Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program

Coastal Bend Bays Foundation

Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

Jobos Bay NERRR

Laguna Atascosca National Wildlife Refuge

Laguna Madre Boys & Girls Club

Lower Colorado River Authority

Matagorda County Coastal Committee

Port of Brownsville

Rio Grande International Study Center

Sarasota Bay Estuaries Program

Sinton Independent School District

Texas GLO Adopt-A-Beach Program

Texas Parks & Wildlife Coastal Fisheries Division

Texas Transportation Institute

UT Brownsville

Welder Wildlife Refuge

Wood Buffalo National Park

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2010 SSCN CALENDAR

Feb 18 - Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Whooping Crane tour + boat cruise on Skimmer

Feb 19 - Shrimp Poster Competition presentation in Rockport, Texas

Feb 25-27 - Port Aransas Whooping Crane Festival

March 5 - Seagrass Festival of Knowledge, Aransas Pass Civic Center, using distance technology to link Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Florida and Texas.

March 6 - Fulton Oyster Fest Parade (Redfish Bay Trash & Seagrass Parade collaboration)

March 6 - Redfish Bay Cleanup

March 6 - Walking Wetlands Tour at UTMSI with Ingleside, Corpus Christi, Sinton, Aransas Pass SSCs

March 6 - Coastal Cleanup at Redfish Bay Lighthouse Lakes Trail Park with OxyChem

April 17 - 4th Annual Bahia Grande Limpienato & Coastal Cleanup in Port Isabel and South Padre Island with SSCs from Matamoros, Brownsville & Port Isabel, plus other groups

April 17 - Earth Day Bay Day in Corpus Christi with SSCs from Aransas Pass, Corpus Christi & Ingleside in Texas Parks & Wildlife tent

April 24 - Matagorda Island Shoreline Cleanup with SSCs from Port Lavaca, Ingleside, Aransas Pass, Corpus Christi & Sinton, Texas

April 24 - Earth Day Arbor Day with SSC from Brownsville, Texas

May - San Patricio County “Living & Working in the Coastal Zone” and “Econmy=Ecology Week” at Sinton Discovery Center

June 11-13 - Shrimporee in Aransas Pass with SSCs from Corpus Christi, Sinton, Ingleside at Redfish Bay Seagrass tent

June 9-10 - SSCN 2010 Faculty Training at Discovery Center in Sinton, Texas

June 14-16 - SSCN Project Coordinator in Galveston to make environmental education presentation to Equatorial Guinea delegation for artificial reef project

June 26 - Colegio Juvenal Rendon 20th Anniversary Alumni Reunion in Matamoros, Mexico

July 1-4 - GMF exhibit at Sail South Texas 2010 Tall Ships celebration

July 24 - GMF exhibit at Texas General Land Office Coastal Expo at Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi

Aug 3-5 - SSCN Project Coordinator at All Hands Meeting with Gulf of Mexico Alliance in Biloxi, Mississippi

Oct 16 - GMF SSCs in Brownsville, Port Isabel and Matamoros in Dia Del Rio Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Watershed Relay

Oct 23 - SSCN participate in US Forest Service's climate change initiative called FOCUS (Forests, Oceans, Climate and Us)

Nov 6 - SSCN Gulf of Mexico Youth Leadership & Stewardship Conference, Aransas Pass, Texas

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CLUB LOCATIONS

TEXAS
   Aransas Pass
    · Aransas Pass High (pdf)
    · AC Blunt Middle School
   Bay City
    · Bay City Middle School
   Brownsville
    · Dr. Juliette Garcia Middle (pdf)
   Corpus Christi
    · Martin Middle School (pdf)
   El Maton
    · Tidehaven Intermediate (pdf)
   Ingleside
    · Blaschke Elementary School
   Palacios
   Port Isabel
    · Colegio Rendon
   Port Lavaca
    · Calhoun High School
    · Travis Middle School (pdf)
   Rockport-Fulton
    · Rockport-Fulton Middle School
   Sinton
    · Smith Junior High (pdf)
    · Sinton High School
   Van Vleck
    · Van Vleck High School(pdf)

FLORIDA
St. Mark's

UPPER 33
   Necedeh, Wisconsin
   NW Territories, Canada
   Stafford, Kansas

MEXICO
Matamoros

CARIBBEAN
    Penuelas, Puerto Rico
    · Rafael Irrizary Middle (pdf)
    US Virgin Islands
    · St. Croix Central High School

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SSCN AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

2010 - Coastal Management Program Grant Cycle 15

2009 - Gulf of Mexico Program Gulf Guardian Award Binational category

2008 - Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program Grant Cycle 13 recipient

2008 - The Conservation Fund National Forum on Children and Nature Top 30 Programs in America recipient

2007 - Coastal Impact Assistance Program Grant Cycle 2 recipient

2007 - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Environmental Excellence Award Winner-Youth Category

2007 - Gulf of Mexico Alliance Environmental Education Committee Best Practices Demonstration Program for Underserved/Underrepresented Populations

2007 - Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program Grant Cycle 12 recipient

2007 - Ocean Conservancy’s 1st Caribbean Ocean Summit for Youth Invited participants to represent the Gulf of Mexico

2006 - Boys & Girls Club of America National Dragonfly Quest Science Fair Competition in the Environmental Science category

2006 - Coastal Bend Bays Foundation Environmental Stewardship Award-Middle School category

2005 - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Environmental Excellence Award Finalist-Non-Profit Organization category

2003 - Coastal Impact Assistance Program Grant Cycle 1 recipient

2001 - Corpus Christi Independent School District Innovative Idea Grant Winner-Middle School Category