The students are organizing a teach-in, the Miss Martha Biodiversity Project, to honor Martha, the very last Passenger Pigeon who died on September 1, 1914 in the Cincinnati Zoo.

The National Biodiversity Teach-In is a multi-class project, being held September 21-27, 2014. The purpose of the event is to raise national awareness of the importance of biodiversity and its protection, with the ultimate goal of having President Obama proclaim 2014 the “Year of the Passenger Pigeon”.

Student Chairs Karla, Sarah, Abbey and Miranda plan to reach this goal by organizing informational webinars, field experiences and volunteer opportunities.

The students are looking for help from scientists, educators, artists and media professionals to support their efforts. The students are open to any ideas but are looking for your help:

• Do you have expertise in any aspect of Biodiversity and can provide a webinar?
• Are you willing to organize a field experience at a local nature center to highlight the vast and unique biodiversity of your region?
• Could you organize an event in which volunteers could help protect or enhance biodiversity?
• Are you an artist, an author, a poet or a musician who could organize an event or activity to highlight the importance of biodiversity for inspiring creativity?

The students are looking mainly for two possible activities:

1) Presenters to provide webinars during the week of September 22-26th on any biodiversity topic. The organizers want the webinars to last 60 minutes and to be aimed at a student audience, otherwise it is left up to you. The presenter can select the date, the time, length, the topic and the audience. The webinar service that will allow for 3000 participants and also for interaction via Q and A. If you already have a cool presentation for pre-k through first graders you could present that and the school will advertise the webinar to those age groups. If you find little kids a bit scary, and you want to present to high school students or adults, that is fine too.

2) Educators to offer biodiversity experiences through out the country. You could host an onsite hike or talk about your projects or research on Sunday, September 21 or Saturday, September 27th. This event could be anything related to biodiversity, such as stewardship opportunities, nature hikes or photography. The organizers’ vision for these two days is to get people out and enjoying the biodiversity in their communities.

The website is offering interested organizations a listing on their Resource Page.

For more details about the students’ project, visit their website http://nationalbiodiversityteachin.com/

Here’s the contact information for any questions or to let the students know how you can support their projects.
Elgin High School
Environmental Science Program
1200 Maroon Drive
Elgin, Illinois 60120
847-888-5100 ext 8160

Contact: Deb Perryman, email: debbieperryman@u-46.org
Facebook: Miss Martha The Passenger Pigeon
Twitter: @MissMartha1914

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