Lundie. Showing them around 

 won't do the job. They need to 

 learn investigative techniques and 

 how to apply a new awareness and 

 understanding in the classroom. 



Without a doubt, Lundie met 

 her goals. A few hours a day, the 

 group met in the classroom to 

 discuss Puerto Rico's ecosystems 

 and to trade resource materials. 

 The remainder of the time they set 

 out to smell, taste, feel, hear and 

 see the island. 



Out in the field, Lundie played a 

 Pied Piper of sorts, leading the 

 group through mucky swamps, 

 knee-high grasses and tangled root 

 systems looking for specimens. She 

 was a whiz at naming almost any 

 plant or slinky, slimy thing that 

 crossed her path. Together with 

 Gonzalez, a field guide and many 

 of the Puerto Rican teachers, she 

 pointed out and named most every 

 crab, coral, grass, lizard, flower, 

 fruit or tree along the way. If she 

 couldn't answer a question herself, 

 she quickly asked the closest 

 authority. 



"She's something special," says 

 Lucrecia Rousseaux of Charlotte. 

 "She's so patient and loving ... so 

 good about giving the information. 



Photo by Sarah Friday 



She's so knowledgeable. It's an 

 overwhelming experience. You 

 never feel like she's being overbear- 

 ing or this Spanish word 

 "presumida" — presumptuous. She 

 makes you feel good about what 

 you're doing. The enthusiasm bub- 

 bles out of her." 



If one of the teachers felt uncom- 

 fortable about her swimming or 

 snorkeling skills, Lundie took her 

 hand and guided her through the 

 underwater world of boulder-sized 

 corals and breath-taking beauty. 

 When some of the class didn't un- 

 derstand a concept, she'd work 

 through it with them until they 

 did. And she was the first to make 

 everyone feel at home, whether 

 Puerto Rican or American. 



"Lundie has a very organized 

 sense of how to deal with people," 

 says Phares Sechler of China 

 Grove. "It keeps the workshop go- 

 ing and gets the job done. 



"We could not get bored. There 

 was more than enough for us to do. 

 There was an allowance for us to be 

 people, not just teachers. That's 

 where a lot of the friendships were 

 formed. When we shared curricula, 

 everybody knew each other so well, 

 it gave a beautiful depth to what 



For Lundie, teaching marine science comes naturally 



people were sharing. We were able 

 to appreciate where they were 

 coming from." 



Five days into the workshop, the 

 group took an afternoon to go over 

 resource materials Lundie and 

 Gonzalez had gathered. The books 

 and activities selected could be 

 adapted to science classes at 

 almost any grade level. When the 

 materials were not directly ap- 

 plicable, the texts ignited new 

 ideas for different projects. 



The story doesn't stop with 

 these teachers in that classroom. 

 Many of them plan to use the in- 

 formation from the workshop to in- 

 fluence others in their school or 

 area. 



"I'm going to present a mini-Sea 

 Grant, Puerto Rico workshop to 

 my faculty," says Rousseaux. "I 

 want to share it with my whole 

 school. I'm going to take the 

 materials I have to a central place 

 where they can be used." 



"In my school," says Maritza 

 Febo of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 

 "I plan to get my fellow teachers 

 moving." She wants to share her 

 specimen collections and pictures 

 from the workshop with them. 



In addition, some of the Puerto 

 Rican teachers are planning to 

 meet with members of AMPEN, a 

 marine and environmental educa- 

 tion organization, to tell them 

 about their experiences and share 

 the materials. Through AMPEN, 

 they'd like to develop a network of 

 marine educators in Puerto Rico. 



Lundie was the match that lit 

 the blaze of enthusiasm in these 

 teachers. In one week, her ideas, 

 encouragement and confidence es- 

 tablished new leaders in marine 

 science education. From here, 

 they'll take the flames and spread 

 them to their students and other 

 teachers. And so long as Lundie's 

 around, there's little chance the 

 fire will go out. 



"I don't think that anybody 

 could have put more into this 

 workshop," says Kearns, "or that 

 we could have gotten any more out 

 of it." 



