Junior SeaKeepers Final 2024 Workshop: Presentation Practice

Overview

On Thursday, May 23rd, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted the ninth and final Junior SeaKeepers Program workshop for 23-24 cohort students. This concluding JSK workshop focused on practicing for the student's final research project presentations at their symposium in June and was led by our Education Manager, Toni Lohroff.

As a part of their final research projects, the Junior SeaKeepers are focusing on local conservation topics regarding issues like marine debris, microplastic influence, the monitoring of local waterways, and more. Many of these research questions required JSKs to collect their own data locally, while some others collected information from publicly available reports, maps, and partner non-profit organizations. These differences in data mean that our JSKs might have different visual data to highlight, and also means that they need to figure out the best "story" to tell when presenting their data to give their audience the best "big picture" idea of their work and the problem it addresses. With the symposium rapidly approaching, this was the Junior SeaKeepers' final opportunity to get peer feedback on their poster presentations and ask questions about how to be most successful in their communication.

Overall, the 2023-24 cohort of Junior SeaKeepers have worked so hard throughout the program to build skills in research, advocacy, community engagement, and science communication. As the program comes to an end, we cannot wait to see all of these skills come together when they present their final research and communication projects to family, friends, and local community members in their first step as junior marine conservationists at the Junior SeaKeepers Symposium and Graduation event in June.