Two years ago, donor Juan Pablo, gave his 175-gallon saltwater aquarium to Chinquapin Preparatory to help students learn about and maintain aquamarine life. Given the opportunity and responsibility to start up and maintain this aquarium as a personal project, I eagerly dove deep into researching Aquatic Science with the help of science teacher Kacie Horton. Throughout the two years of research, maintenance, and complete immersion, I developed a better understanding of how sensitive ecosystems can be. A slight change in light, food, or cleaning habits could drastically impact how healthy our corals or fish were. Speculating that the real world could not be much different from the tank, my curiosity led me to my current Junior/Senior Project. I have therefore devoted myself, with the intention of spreading awareness among my Chinquapin community, to research the causes and effects of Coral Bleaching.

Stressors cause coral bleaching and have long term effects on the rest of the world that cause cyclical disturbances to the environments around them. The stressors, such as climate change and human interaction, discontinue the processes that allow the internal structure of corals to function and photosynthesize, leaving them “bleached.” A bleached coral is one that is one stage away from dying. It can no longer house hundreds of thousands of fish species or support the citizens of developing countries who rely on the reefs as primary forms of income. Developing countries, who rely on them, are responsible for 1.78 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year. The US emits 20.1 metric tons per person of greenhouse gasses, ultimately 11 times higher. This alarming statistic amongst many others led me to the conclusion that awareness of this crisis must be spread. What better place to begin than from my own Chinquapin community?

I explored many different ways that Chinquapin could continue as an even more eco-friendly campus, one being The Sporky Box. To save money and plastic for Chinquapin, I decorated a box and announced to our community how we could recycle our unused sporks by placing them in the box. There has been much success since! I have also researched effective filming tactics and constructed/collected necessary props to make an infomercial that would carry out my vision of spreading awareness.