Wilmington Teen Training for Aquarium Adventure

Editor's Note: The following information was provided by the New England Aquarium.

Thirteen teens from Boston and surrounding communities – including Brendan Sullivan of Wilmington - are getting certified to scuba dive for a week-long expedition off Jamestown, Rhode Island.

The New England Aquarium’s unique program, SEA TURTLE (Teen Underwater Research, Training, and Learning Expedition) takes teens, ages 16 to 18, and trains them to be proficient swimmers and divers. In years past, the group traveled to the Bahamas for a week-long summer expedition. But Aquarium staff decided to bring down the cost so more teens could participate, and this year, the group heads to Fort Wetherill in Rhode Island from Aug. 19 to 24.

Other teens participating include: Ming Wang of Lexington; Victoria Astudillo of Brighton; Cordelia Sanborn-Marsh and Leah Briggs of Cambridge; Nicole Catubig and Shoshanna Minsk of Boston; Elana Levitan of Weston; Jordy McKay of Newton; Catherine Cuddy of Framingham; Kaitlin Allair of Ludlow; Zachary Rizzo of Woburn; and Isabelle Holt of Watertown.

The SEA TURTLE application process is rigorous. The teens must demonstrate true interest in marine science and be strong swimmers. They write essays, undergo interviews, and have to have experience in the Aquarium’s various programs. 

In Rhode Island, the challenge will be for the teens to quickly master their dive skills and be on the lookout for tropical fish that inadvertently traveled up the Gulf Stream. It’s an elusive goal but Heather Deschenes, the Aquarium’s Manager of Youth Development Programs, said she hopes they might find butterfly fish, which are only a couple inches long. If they are able to find and successfully capture one of these fish, it could be brought back to theAquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue facility in Quincy. There, the Aquarium’s husbandry staff could  help the tiny fish grow and flourish.

This quest to find the fish and give them a new home will be part of SEA TURTLE’s expanded mission toward community service, Deschenes said. She runs another program called the Live Blue Ambassadors where teens volunteer to do environmentally-inspired community service work.

To date, teens in the Live Blue Ambassadors program have helped re-plant eel grass on the North Shore to restore the fish habitat and encourage more carbon in the waterways where boat propellers and poor water quality have diminished this ecologically important plant. The teens have also helped clear a critical herring run in Weymouth. They also are scheduled to do beach cleanups and invasive plant removal on Lovells Island, a Boston Harbor Island later this summer. 

In the future, the SEA TURTLE teen divers could assist with efforts such as diving to monitor the eel grass plantings or other projects.

“Having teens embark on such exciting new learning experiences beyond the Aquariumwalls is part of our larger goal to inspire them to ‘Live Blue’ so they come to understand and cherish our changing environment,” Deschenes said. “Young people are the future so instilling a passion for keeping our waterways clean, pure, and healthy is such a powerful life lesson. They can go out and help in ways that inspire broader community participation and have a bigger impact.”