Welcome to the Cape Fear Student Summit Delegation Blog

Welcome to the Cape Fear Student Summit Delegation blog. This page is dedicated to our adventures as we prepare for the 2011 Coastal America Student Summit in Washington DC. The Summit will be taking place in February and is focusing on how the ocean and the climate are interconnected. There are 23 Coastal Education Learning Centers (CLECs) partnered with Coastal America. Of those, 20 CLECs will be bringing a delegation to Washington. Each delegation is made up of 4 students, a classroom educator, and an educator from the CLEC.

Each delegation is responsible for identifying a local issue associated with climate change. Once that issue has been identified, the delegation must create and implement an action plan to help them address that issue. The delegation will then create a 3 minute video to share at the Summit as well as a poster that will be shared with the general public in the Smithsonian's Oceans Hall. Each delegation will also maintain a wiki and a blog to document the experience.

Our delegation has chosen to look at how the changing climate also changes the oceans. We are focusing on how the Cape Fear region will be affected by changes in our oceans. Since we are a low lying coastal area, the changes will be great. The students will interview experts in different fields to discover what parts of our area are at risk and what we can do to help protect them. The students will also work with local schools to learn what our local youth think they can do to offset climate change. The final product will be a video on climate change and the Cape Fear region that teachers will be able to use in their classroom. As the aquarium educator, I will be creating a curriculum to supplement the video in high school classrooms.

Stay tuned to our blog and follow our delegation as we explore the Cape Fear region and bring our findings to Capital Hill. We've already started our adventure and I'll let the students tell you about the trips as we take them. We want to thank everyone for their support ahead of time. Stick around to see what happens next!
Thanks~ Megan