PJA student promotes protecting dolphins

PHOTO: Portland Jewish Academy seventh-grader Lily included this image of a bottlenose dolphin in the ocean in her presentation about dolphins for first-graders. “I included a little game where the kids could try to identify the blowhole on the picture, so I tried to find images where the blowhole was visible such as this one.”

 

With volunteering in the community on hold, the members of Portland Jewish Academy’s Work for the World from Home exploratory spent the first trimester envisioning different ways to make a difference. 
While typically we think of service work as being hands-on projects, donation drives or fundraisers, in truth much of it revolves around education and advocacy. With this in mind, seventh-grader Lily built on a project she started in sixth grade. A dolphin lover, Lily created an informational slideshow on dolphins for the first-graders. Lily believes understanding and appreciating animals is the first step toward protecting them. Her presentation focused on how dolphins thrive in the wild versus in captivity.
Lily had a great time visiting the first-grade online classroom. “My visit to the first-graders on Friday was really fun, and I think they learned a lot,” says Lily. “I taught about dolphins and how they live, hunt, breathe and things like that. I really loved going there (well I kinda went there, given that it is on Zoom) and sharing my knowledge and helping them better understand some of the animals that are most similar to humans.”
The first-graders responded enthusiastically. “I can’t believe how many kinds of dolphins there are,” says first-grader Noa. “I could only name the pink dolphin! I like how Lily had pictures for us to see all the different kinds and where they live.”
Using her passion as a springboard for action and working for the world, Lily is now working on creating a petition to limit capturing dolphins for entertainment purposes. 
To learn more about dolphins in captivity, visit Lily’s favorite resource at dolphinproject.com/campaigns/captivity-industry/facts-about-captivity/. The site includes links to other resources and ways to help if someone wanted to do that.

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