My favorite day!

Cova do Vapor Beach

"This was my favorite day," is a phrase that we keep hearing as program leaders here in Portugal.  So far students are receiving a multidimenional educational experience when it comes to the Aquatic Ecosystems and Sustainability program. Students are absorbing as much as they can in both the laboratory and classrooms at the local university.

The brick and mortar are not the only places these students are learning. They have been engaging in lessons from the community while at the same time giving back. This week, students scoured the streets of Lisbon picking up thousands of cigarette butts and collected bags full of debris from the Alges beach.

Today they worked alongside a local NGO and  community members to take action in conserving the dune ecosystem that rests between the Cova do Vapor Beach and a small fisherman community.

Once students understood the vulnerability of this particular ecosystem, they were all in. The actions these students would take would help preserve the habitat for years to come. Students rotated through stations from early morning to mid afternoon making tremendous progress. Take a look at the video below and pictures above, and you will see that, yet again, today was their favorite day!

A special shout out to our DJ, Bryn, who keeps our experiences fresh, by bringing her speaker along, everywhere we go. Thanks Bryn!

Cova do Vapor Beach

In an attempt to enhance the natural spaces of the beach students cleaned the areas around the dunes and created a mural.  As a way to protect the sand dune system and its diversity students constructed rope barriers, a walking path and inspirational signs to make it easier for people to access the beach rather than walking on the dunes. One of the missions of the NGO is to encourage the use of recycled products to minimize the carbon footprint. Students engaged in this practice creating face masks from "garbage" that the NGO will showcase at events.