Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin, Patxi Pastor, Dr. Barry Rock, & Phil Browne Create Eco Program for Miami Beach Students

Back Row Left To Right: Miami Beach High School Marine Science Teacher Chaperone Paul Rehage, SCUBA Club Sponsor Becky Salichova, SCUBA Instructor Jake Shekels, AMES Scholarship Recipients Javi Sanchez, Jose Suarez, Chris Gallo and Divemaster Claudio Pellarini. Front Row Left To Right: AMES Janry Villaruz, Naval Junior Officers Reserve Training Corps Cadet Recipients of the Navy's Women Divers Hall of Fame SCUBA Training Grant Petty Officer 3rd Class Adriana Chait, Seaman Andrea Orduz, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Sasha Dyroff and World Ocean Watch Founder & President Patxi Pastor.

Miami Beach - CityDebate.Com - May 28, 2009 - The Celebration of the Sea Foundation is pleased to announce the development of the World Ocean Watch (WOW) Environmental and Educational Marine Science Program which will train students from the Miami Beach School System and ultimately around the world to server as ambassadors for our planet's oceans. The program is designed to introduce K-12 students to the important relationships that exist between the marine and terrestrial components of our coasts and foster a greater sense of stewardship towards marine eco-systems and the animals that inhabit them. The principal elements of the program focus on the integration of science as a primary means to develop a wide variety of practical "life skills" while simultaneously building self-esteem and excitement for the learning process among our Nations youth.

      The program will additionally feature the involvement of Miami Beach at-risk students through the renowned Teen Job Corp organization developed by Executive Director, Deborah Ruggiero, and the Environmental Coalition of Miami Beach (ECOMB - www.ecomb.org ). The innovative program currently empowers these Miami Beach School children to serve as environmental mentors in the community through a unique partnership program developed between Mrs. Ruggiero and ECOMB's Executive Director, Luiz Rodrigues.

     The educational template for WOW will be modeled after the nationally acclaimed "Forest Watch Program" which which was developed with NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration) Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data by Dr. Barry Rock, the Director of University of New Hampshire's complex Systems Research Center. Dr. Rock is a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory staff member and an internationally respected scientist in his field of environmental studies and education. Dr. Rock initially piloted the Forest Watch program in Concord High School in New Hampshire with the leadership of Phil Browne, a veteran science teacher in the State's educational system.

     As a result of Dr. Rock and Mr. Browne's extraordinary success with The Forest Watch Program over the past decade the program has already been integrated into over 300 science curriculums in schools across the United States and continues to receive millions of dollars of Federal funding by the National Science Foundation.

     One of the WOW program's initial investigations will begin with student studies focusing on the health of a native Miami Beach tree species called the Florida Slash Pine.

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