From Teacher to Student and To Teacher Again
A Beachwatcher Story
How many whales are there?, Are they dangerous? When will they come by?” Clare has answered these questions and provided detailed – and fun – information about the orcas and the sea in which they live to literally thousands of regional and international visitors and island residents. And she has done so with the eloquence of an English teacher, which was her profession for many years. Clare left that profession and moved to San Juan Island from California. But she couldn’t shake her love of teaching, and found ways to do that on the island. After volunteering at the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and the Whale Museum, she felt she could do even more.
Clare is a San Juan Islands Beachwatcher graduate – and volunteer. The Beachwatchers, an extension program of Washington State University, provides one hundred hours of college level education about the marine and nearshore environment at no charge. The graduates are expected to volunteer 100 hours of giving back by teaching or performing research - or both! Most have given back much more and enjoy every minute of it.
They come to the program from all walks of life: office workers, engineers, scientists and…teachers like Clare. Some become active educators when they volunteer, others would never get in front of a crowd, preferring to work with world-class scientists combing the beach for forage fish eggs or studying eelgrass habitats. One of the beauties of the program is the choice to volunteer in a way that works for each Beachwatcher.
Clare is fulfilled by the “aha” moments and the wonder she sees in the eyes of the people who come out to the Whale Interpretive Center at Limekiln Park on the west shore of San Juan Island. She volunteers at this wonderful new facility that gets visitors and community members out of their cars and immersed in the world of the whales. As part of the community here, she particularly likes to see other islanders out at the Center, learning more about the environment in which they live. She feels that if the islanders really know and love their island environment, they’ll share that love and knowledge with visitors, friends and other community members, and that will lead to a real stewardship of this precious place.
A new San Juan Beachwatchers Training Series started on March 4. Classes, each about 5 hours long, are being held twice a week, alternating between San Juan Island and Orcas Island. The program is for people who love to learn, have a passion for educating, preserving or studying the island environment, would like to know some fellow marine enthusiasts and have some spare time to devote to the training. There’s a wealth of information about the program at the Beachwatchers Website.
Sometimes we need a reminder that we live within a world-class natural wonder. Clare got that reminder this past summer. Clare was sharing her knowledge of the whales with two visitors from Germany, a father and daughter. The daughter was interpreting Clare’s words for her father, and her father’s words for Clare. The father was effusive and, when translated, his words were something like this: “I live in a beautiful place in Germany, have traveled to many beautiful places in the world and had great experiences, but the whales, in this place, are the most amazing thing I have ever seen!”
Clare could go on and on about the Beachwatchers experience. In the classes she found real camaraderie, small student groups, great speakers, educators from a variety of backgrounds, and more. The opportunities after the classes are really varied and each volunteer is highly appreciated. It’s a good gig.
By the way, the answer to the question “when will the whales come by?” is simply “when they do!”
