Supporting Justice, Equity, and Access

This post was published earlier this summer in June in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Please read further to understand our response to this matter and how we are reaffirming our decision to remain fervently committed to providing justice, equity, and access to programs on Hurricane Island to all, especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We appreciate any and all feedback and are encouraged by the momentum that is driving this movement.

Like many, the death of George Floyd has offered us an opportunity to reflect on why we, as individuals and as an organization, previously have failed to address the systematic racism that had led to his death and many other people of color at the hands of police. As an institution, we strive to provide safe and equitable access to science education, applied research and leadership development to everyone. We realize that our intent to create a welcoming and inclusive organization has not been enough to address the pervasive power differentials that contribute to racial injustice. We recognize the need to accelerate our actions to explore how our own implicit biases have affected our organization and the people we serve.

We reaffirm our dedication to facing and addressing the inequities that have been ingrained within our society and the privilege that has been afforded to us. Systemic change will take time. We are committed to action, knowing that our understanding and our impact will need to grow. We invite critique and we are committed to learning without demanding to be taught by others.

We are listening to our participants of color and partner schools/organizations to understand our current impact and how we can improve our daily interactions, our programs, and our policies and procedures. We are rewriting our programs to be equitable and expansive in content and in delivery. We are committed to increasing our scholarship fund to provide equitable access to Hurricane Island to everyone who is interested in learning with us. We promise to strengthen our efforts to recruit Black People, Indigenous People, and all People of Color to work at Hurricane Island and serve on its Board.

We will not be complacent. We will evolve.

For more information on some of the work that we are committed to doing, please see our Statement of Community.

When things don't go as planned...

Portland High School students exploring the intertidal last spring (2019)

Part of my work as Education Manager is to engage with students in our local partner schools in project based learning (topics which range from salt marsh restoration, to larval scallop recruitment). This past month I've been in and out of the English Language Learners Biology and Field Ecology classes at Portland High School, diving deeply into the nuances of kelp biology and aquaculture. We spent some time thinking about what makes kelp different from land plants, how kelp reproduces, what role kelp plays in Maine ecosystems, and why we would want to grow kelp as a crop. As our culminating event, I brought in kelp reproductive tissue (sorus tissue) so that students could grow their own seaweed. 

Had all gone to plan, the sorus tissue which had previously been dried out, would have released spores immediately after coming back into contact with water. Students would have been able to see the spores wriggling around under a microscope. However, nothing happened…. No spores…. nothing.

As it was my first time attempting to spore kelp in the classroom, I was learning right alongside the students, and was just as disappointed as they were (maybe even more so!). We tried all different sorts of things to try and get the kelp to release its spores, but to no avail. Two days in a row this happened! I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, and after seeking help from folks who had done this multiple times before, it seemed like I had done everything by the book. I felt horribly that I had promised something to these students that I couldn't deliver. After a short bout of wallowing, I was gently reminded that science doesn't always go to plan. Science is messy! Science is imperfect! Science requires A LOT of trouble shooting! Even when all conditions are perfect, and everything seems to be in control, experiments go awry! Science is fickle that way! AND what's important is the process of continual re-evaluation, improvement, and perseverance. 

We left the kelp in the tanks in the classroom over Portland's February break in the hopes that at some point the kelp might decide it was time to reproduce. We'll know in the next few weeks if we have had any sort of success, or if it's back to the drawing board. In any case, we'll make it work and have fun doing it.

SCIENCE!