Project Goals and Structure
This project is done under the NOAA Ocean Youth Ambassadors program, where students are asked to formulate and execute a community project regarding marine conservation, wether related to local water sources or the ocean itself. My project’s structure runs like this: 1) Crochet coral to showcase at two art markets I participate in every year. 2) I talk to curious market-goers about the benefits and importance of coral and their reefs in regards to us, humans!
3) After talking, they receive a piece of my reefs as a little free memento, and in return I ask them for a short 30 second or less video, where they hold their chose crochet coral while stating their favorite fact they learned from talking to me that day! 4) As I plan to continue this project over at least the first three years of my high school, I will compile the videos I receive each year into one long montage for each year, and display that montage on this website! This is both for proof of project completion and to document the project’s progress!
History of the project: How does one begin to think of doing such a thing?
During the pandemic, people were desperate for something to do. A hobby that rose to the top of the market was crocheting, and the popularity would continue through my middle school years. My entire middle school friend group fell victim to the crochet craze, and it was a hobby that I continued for a while, until graduation loomed and I stopped. Fast-forward to ninth grade, and I enter the NOAA Youth Ocean Ambassador program. Faced with the task of deciding what to do for my project, I tried my hardest to brainstorm, to no avail. I figured doing a beach clean up would be hard to organize, considering I don’t live near one. Anyways, lots of other people were doing beach cleanups and I wanted to do something a little different. Others did amazing research projects, and others had to courage to speak at their schools’ assemblies. Unfortunately, I had no such courage at the time. One day, I was reorganizing some bins and found a load of unused yarn. The pile of unused yarn sitting in my room really called to me, and I rediscovered all the animals I had made during middle school. Connecting the crochet with the coral was easy, due to the wonderful TED Talk done by Margaret Wertheim. Thus, my little branch of the crochet coral reef was born.
Here is a picture from my presentation at my old elementary school, Bryant Elementary! It was wonderful to talk to my sixth grade teacher’s new class about the importance of coral to our inland community. They enjoyed holding the crochet coral, and several of them were lucky enough to take some pieces of the crochet reef home! This was my first youth outreach venture!
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