Our annual Young Biologist (YB) Course, sponsored by De Beers Marine, is a definite highlight on the Two Oceans Aquarium Environmental Education Centre calendar.
We welcomed 52 rather nervous Grade 10s, who had arrived way before registration time, on Monday 1 October 2012. They had been chosen from around 100 applicants, a tough task as the motivational letters improve every year. The newest group of “YB Wannabes” (as Xavier Zylstra, course co-ordinator, likes to call them), consists of 38 young ladies and 14 young gents from 31 schools across Cape Town.
It is always interesting to see the new YBs on the first day; nervous, but excited. It can be a daunting experience, starting something new with 51 strangers. The advantage with the YB course however is that everyone in the group has the same interests: The ocean and its interesting creatures.
The first three days of the programme consist of a lot of head cramming. Part of being a YB is to volunteer at least 30 hours at the Aquarium, and we want to make sure that the YBs give the correct information when speaking to the public.
The volunteer hours count towards certificate categories, which the YBs will strive to achieve for their graduation. The highest certificate level is the Diamond certificate, which requires YBs to volunteer at least 55 hours, to achieve an overall average of 80% for all assessments, to start or join an eco-club at their school and to organise a clean-up at a beach or any other location of their choosing.
A big part of learning about South African marine invertebrates is to find and identify them in a kelp holdfast.
The YBs got to look at sardines while learning about the external characteristics of bony fish.
Day four is a bit more laid back, with presentations from various Aquarium staff. Nathalie Viljoen, our visitor services manager, spoke to the YBs about what being a Two Oceans Aquarium volunteer entails, while Claire Taylor, our assistant curator, spoke of behind-the-scenes volunteering. Then, the YBs were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour from our curatorial staff.
YBs slept over at the Aquarium on the fourth day, an event that’s always a treat for anyone, whether five or 35 years old. The next morning everyone had an early breakfast and in no time we were all off to Soetwater Environmental Centre in Kommetjie for the weekend camp.
The camp is usually the highlight of the programme, as it gives the YBs more time for socialising and there is plenty of time for outdoorsy activities such as:
Cricket and…
Volleyball.
Come to think of it, any free time this group had was spent playing.
Activities ranged from walks on the beach, exploring the variety of limpet shells and looking at old Khoisan middens to a hike up the mountain exploring the richness of our fynbos kingdom.
Some YBs already started their eco-warrior careers by picking up litter while walking back to camp. A beach clean-up seems to be in order!
A YB camp would not be complete without a trip to the rocky shores to find the animals and plants, which had been the topic of discussion the whole week, in their natural environment. Armed with a guidebook and some small containers, groups went on a search to find something interesting.
The rocks were full of by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella) this time around, so if you were bare feet, you really had to watch your step or end up with a nasty sting on your foot.
Back at camp, it was time to think of dinner, and this time (after having gotten used to being catered for) the YBs made their own potjies.
The evening ended with plays from each group containing an environmental message, entertaining everybody thoroughly as various props and costumes were used to get the message across.
And so the last day arrived and it was time to go home. A big thank you to Catherine Browne, an intern at the South African Environmental Ocean Network, who was with us the whole week and made informative presentations to the YBs on marine careers and other topics.
Another big thank you goes to our YB helpers (from left to right): Laura, Matthew and Charles from the 2011 YB group and Warren from the March 2012 YB group.
It has been another great group of new Young Biologists and it is always amazing to get to know them better over the week that they are with us. Some of them are already very eager to get started with their volunteering, so pop in to the Two Oceans Aquarium over the weekend and get to know some of them at the Hi-Tec Microscope or Touch Pool.
The next YB course, sponsored by I&J, will take place during the March/April holidays in 2013. For more information, email education@aquarium.co.za.
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