JAMIN

Titchfield High School – A Window into History

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The last time I was at Titchfield High School in Port Antonio, Jamaica, I took a moment to look out the window at the old cannons that line the walls separating the school from the clear turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I was there with my colleagues from Alligator Head Foundation to implement the J.A.M.I.N. program. It’s hard not to let my imagination run wild, wondering what happened on this spot centuries ago when, long before it became a high school, it was a well-armed British defensive structure called Fort George. And so, the story begins…

Mangrove Tannin: The Power of Healing

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Throughout human history, compounds found in plants and animals have been used to heal an array of medical conditions. Traditional medicine, sometimes referred to as “bush” or “folk” medicine, was used to treat ailments prior to the emergence of modern medicine. Many of these customs are still being practiced today. The healing properties of mangroves were first discovered by those practicing traditional medicine. Like with modern-day medicine, many of its uses were discovered through trial and error. When a cure worked, the knowledge and information was passed along from generation to generation.

Mangrove Tannin: What is it?

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In January, our second-year J.A.M.I.N. students were tasked with collecting a variety of growth measurements from the mangrove trees that they tagged and identified inside their quadrats. Before we started, I wanted to review the characteristics that are unique to each species of mangroves, a skill they learned previously during the first year of the program. I decided to quiz the students instead. “How can we identify the red mangrove?” I asked. The replies came quickly. “Prop and drop roots.” “Pointy, thick leaves.” “Green bean-like propagules.” All correct. But among the flurry of eager replies, one stood out as several students shouted in unison. “Red tannin!”

Mangrove Detectives

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Scientists are looking to students across the Caribbean for their help studying the health of mangrove forests. This week, Dr. Ryann Rossi, a post-doctoral scholar at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), launched the Mangrove Detectives Project with help from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and Friends of the Environment. Mangrove Detectives is a new citizen-science project that teaches students valuable laboratory and field skills while they document mangrove disease and insect communities in their local mangrove forest. The project provides teachers, non-profit organizations, and environmental educators with free lesson plans, field kits, and laboratory materials to help their students study threats to their local mangrove forest and become part of an international community of Mangrove Detectives.

JAMIN Student Voice 2019

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Throughout the B.A.M. and J.A.M.I.N. programs, we evaluate each program by surveying students. This data helps us to determine whether our education programs are effective and whether we know our audience. It also allows us to measure how much knowledge is retained and whether or not their attitudes and actions about mangroves change as they continue through the program. One of my favorite things to do after the programs have ended is to read the students’ written responses. In this blog you will find select responses to the final survey. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Reflections After 5 Years of J.A.M.I.N.

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There are too many good memories to share, but I want to reflect on a few of the more unforgettable ones from my last five years implementing the J.A.M.I.N. program. And I don’t need to look at the data collected from our surveys to know that the program is reaching students and teachers in a meaningful way. Whether the gesture is great or small, what has most convinced me that we are making a difference is the appreciation, interest, and eagerness expressed by our students and teachers in Jamaica.

Students Tackle World Water Crisis

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Water quality monitoring is extremely important in keeping mangroves healthy. That is why we teamed up with EarthEcho International to have students in our B.A.M. and J.A.M.I.N. programs participate in the EarthEcho Water Challenge. The water quality data (such as salinity, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen content) that they collect, will be shared with other students from around the world.

J.A.M.I.N. Program Expands to Rural Jamaica

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“Miss, a wa mek im move so?” (Miss, why is it moving like this?) A high school student asks me, holding a sea cucumber while it slowly forms to her hand, squishing her own face in uncertainty. I show her the bottom of the animal where its tube feet retract, sensing a threat. I am thrilled to witness her wonder and disgust.

I, Ali, am an Environment Sector Peace Corps Volunteer living nearby in rural Jamaica, and I’ve been assisting the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (LOF) and Alligator Head Foundation (AHF) with the implementation of the Jamaican Awareness of Mangroves in Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) program. I’m excited to participate in this newly formed partnership that has allowed LOF to expand the J.A.M.I.N. program to the Portland area, a rural parish on the eastern side of Jamaica.

A look back at what we have accomplished: 5 years of J.A.M.I.N.

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Since the inception of the Jamaica Awareness of Mangroves in Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) program five years ago, we have accomplished a great deal, and we would like to share some of these achievements with you.

With the help of our partners, University of the West Indies Discovery Bay Marine Lab, we launched the J.A.M.I.N. Mangrove Education and Restoration program during the 2014-2015 school year. Using our custom-developed mangrove curriculum, 10thgrade students at Holland and William Knibb High Schools in Falmouth, Jamaica learned about the importance of mangroves and how to restore them.