The Indian Point Young Naturalist Club: June 2011

Camp Counsellors 2011

I feel extremely lucky to have such enthusiastic talented staff this summer.

Returning for her fourth year with the camps is Mikaela Law. Mikaela is now a 11th grade student at Sir John A High School who brings her keen interest in science and nature once again to the camps. New this year are Arielle Legere and Mandai Mohan.

Arielle lives on Indian Point and grew up loving to explore the shores of the bay. Arielle is an 11th grade student at the Halifax Grammar School and, at the ripe old age of 17, is an accomplished singer, song writer and actor. She is keen on sharing these talents with campers this summer.

Mandai and I met while working together at the Museum of Natural History many years ago. At the time, Mandai was as enthusiastic about looking after and talking about the butterflies at the Museum to children as I was about looking after and talking to children about Gus the tortoise back in those days. Realizing our shared love for teaching children, we both became elementary school teachers. Here we both are now, nearly a decade later, together again with the same enthusiasm we shared for the Museum now for these summer camps. Mandai is an elementary classroom and art teacher at the Halifax Independent School. She loves nature and children and is looking very much to the hot sunny days with the camper summer.

See you all soon!

-Scott

Meet our Shark Experts

Hello Everyone,
Here is a little bit of information about the shark experts who will be joining us this summer. :)

Jarrett Corke

Project Coordinator - Shark

ShARCC Creator

Born and raised in Stratford, Ontario, Jarrett has always felt a deep connection to the ocean, despite growing up around fresh water. Although Jarrett has a passion for all terrestrial and marine species, overtime, his fascination and long-time dedication has encompassed sharks. As an avid SCUBA and Freediver, Jarrett has had the opportunity to dive with multiple species of shark; an experience that has helped him to overcome a childhood fear of these animals and changing his perspective of sharks altogether. His passion for sharks also inspired him to travel to Bimini, Bahamas to volunteer at the Bimini Biological Field Station (BBFS). Dedicated to conserve the ocean and sharks, Jarrett returned to university and, recently, has completed a Masters of Resource and Environmental Management at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. Since then, he has pursued his passion of marine conservation, more specifically in shark conservation, by taking a position as Project Coordinator - Shark, at WWF-Canada.

Brendal Davis

Masters of Marine Management

ShARCC Creator

Brendal's passion for the ocean has taken her from the rolling green hills of Meadville, Pennsylvania to the shores of South Florida. In between she travelled the world, from Australia to South Africa, Central America to Europe. After graduating Edinboro University in Pennsylvania with a BA in Spanish and Criminal Justice, Brendal decided to pursue her dream of a career combining diving with marine conservation by becoming a Reef Check and PADI Master Scuba Dive Instructor. She then pursed a graduate certificate degree in Fisheries Management in 2009 at Oregon State University. Currently, she is a Masters student at the world-renowned program of Marine Resource Management through Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia furthering her studies in elasmobranches and other pelagic fish with a focus in elasmobranch policy and management. Her insatiable dedication to sharks, and contagious enthusiasm for every creature in the sea, has made her a strong proponent of furthering shark conservation and education.

Aurelie Godin

Ph.D. Candidate, Industrial Graduate Fellow, WWF-Canada

A Montreal native, Aurelie's passion for the ocean arose during her undergraduate years where she started scuba diving. She moved to Nova Scotia in 2008 to do a Master in Marine Management at Dalhousie University where she completed her thesis' project on improving shark conservation and management policies in Canada. This master's project was in partnership with WWF-Canada where she interned during the summer. She continued working with WWF-Canada in developing their shark conservation campaign before taking another internship position with the Pew Global Shark Campaign in Washington DC. Since then, her work has primarily focused on the topic of shark bycatch on which she is currently pursuing her doctoral study in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University under the supervision of marine biologist Dr. Boris Worm.

Peace, Love, and Jellyfish!

-The IPYNC Staff

Seastar Times June 2011

Hello there everyone,
Here is the latest edition of the Seastar Times, the information publication for the Indian Point Young Naturalist Club. Click to enlarge the pages. this will open each page in a new window, making it very easy to print the registration forms found on pages 4 and 5. If you print and fill out these forms, you can mail them to us at The Indian Point Young Naturalist Club, 39 Sunset Drive, Glen Haven, NS, B3z 2T8.