2022 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit

On February 26th, I attended the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, or YOCS, in Savannah, Georgia. I have been involved with the YOCS for several years now, first as an attendee in March 2020, then as an invited speaker for two virtual summits, one in December 2020 and one in March 2021. However, this time I was able to participate in-person on the Young Leaders Panel with two other conservationists. Throughout the summit, I was able to mentor other kids just beginning their ocean conservation journey. I was also able to participate in the workshops, including some led by researchers I’ve worked with in the past. Here’s a breakdown of my experiences and takeaways.

We started off our day listening to the keynote speaker, Alex Troutman. He explained his journey to becoming a wildlife biologist. From originally wanting to be a veterinarian, but then discovering a love for nature, I found his talk particularly interesting because he highlighted specific obstacles he had to overcome. His story is very real. People of color have to overcome a lack of representation in jobs and limited exposure to the ocean. But as Alex best says himself, “A smooth sea doesn’t make a good sailor.” We all have obstacles that we have to overcome in order to be good conservationists and better individuals. The important thing is learning to adapt and overcome them.

I was then able to meet my fellow panelists, Jesse Freeze and Mone’t Murphy. As we enjoyed the beautiful weather on a small nature loop, we discussed our projects and other icebreakers to get to know each other. Jesse is a student at the University of Georgia studying ecology. He works specifically on the effects of toxins in dinoflagellates and coral reefs. Dinoflagellates are small single-celled organisms that make up a large portion of plankton in the ocean. Jesse specifically focuses on ones that cause seafood poisoning. Unlike her namesake Claude Mone’t, Mone’t Murphy isn’t an artist. Mone’t is a student at Savannah State University who studies deep sea soil and sediment for benthic foraminifera which tell the history of an area over periods of millions of years. She also has a passion for diving and underwater exploration. Jesse and Mone’t, despite being more than five years older than me, were open to hearing about my work and we bonded over our love for the ocean and traveling.

Next, we journeyed through some of the workshops being offered for participants. One of the workshops, led by Kate Tweedy from Little St. Simons, was about learning to stop and cherish nature through field journaling. I took time to draw a cactus and some palmettos.

Ironically enough the next workshops were being led by Kris Williams from the Caretta Research Project and Andrew Lyons from Little St. Simons lemon shark research project. I have partnered with both of them in the past through my Trash for Turtles project. Andrew hopes to continue his lemon shark study to include many other barrier islands along Georgia’s coast. Kris and I shared our excitement about working with the sea turtle monitoring program on Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge this summer. Kris’ workshop also included a fun activity where we got to see what specific turtles get to eat by sifting through jello models of sea turtles stomachs. It got a little messy…

After a refreshing lunch, it was time for our youth panel. I had a blast answering questions and giving advice to kids wanting to begin projects. It was interesting to hear Jesse and Mone’t’s opinions and experiences as well. Afterwards, we had a few kids come up to us to thank us. I’m still in shock thinking about it. It’s the most rewarding thing to pass your story on to others. Inspiring others has always been a huge part of my work, and the YOCS giving me another opportunity to do that was incredible. Helping through the action planning process and seeing these kids start their projects really shows the value of your work and advice. Overall, this experience was unlike any other I’ve ever had, and I can’t express how much I will cherish this experience.

Special thanks to: Jesse Freeze and Mone’t Murphy for being so inclusive and insightful, everyone who attended the summit, and most of all the volunteers with the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit and UGA Marine Extension for making it happen.