Community Service – Turtle Tracks

Honors student Alexandra Dardet found a novel way to do community service during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s her description of the service:

I assisted in creating tracks in the sand for baby leatherback sea turtles with 7 Quillas. 7 Quillas is a non-profit organization based in Ocean Park, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Their mission is to help protect endangered sea turtles such as the Leatherback species and assist in beach clean-ups and guarding sea turtle nests. The Leatherback (also known as “Tinglar” in Spanish), is one of the largest sea turtle species in the world and has the widest global migratory distribution.

What I did in this activity was create tracks in the sand to assist newborn baby Leatherbacks reach the ocean safely. The activity was done at night although some tracks were formed during the day. The reason it was done at night was to avoid clutter at the beach from beach goers, seagulls, dogs, or other hazards that could intervene with the turtle’s goal of reaching the ocean. This activity also included an organizational speech teaching about what the Leatherback / Tinglar turtle is and how people can help protect it.

ACE POINTS IN THE AGE OF COVID

ace bet business card
ACE points stand for Academics, Community Service, and Engagement
And are meant to incentive greater participation in Honors.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

All Honors students are required to achieve 100 ACE points across a year, and the typical breakdown is 40 points in Academics (4 symposia minimum); 20 points Engagement (2 social events minimum), and 40 points in any combination of academics, engagement or community service events.

COVID has obviously changed this requirement; so, for Fall 2020-Spring 2021, ACE points requirements are as follows: 40 points in Academics (4 Zoom symposia minimum); 20 points online service, which you can select from dosomething.org or any online service opportunity that is meaningful to you; and 40 points in Academics, Community Service, or Engagement. To receive service points, take a picture of yourself engaging in your virtual service opportunity and send it to honors@ut.edu.

black smartphone
To get service credit, take a picture of yourself conducting your service online & send it to honors@ut.edu.
Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

Engagement points can be earned through any virtual social events that the Honors Executive Committee hosts, all of which are currently being planned and will be announced once details are solidified. Each engagement event is 10 points.

Extra academic points can be earned by exceeding the symposia attendance requirement, presenting at a virtual conference, getting a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal, writing a thesis, or receiving a research grant (such as an Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry Grant).

Extra community service points can be earned by engaging in more service events than already required. Each hour of service = 10 points.

Honors Tutorial – Steven Nye documentary on airshows

Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the transition to all online instruction during the second half of the spring 2020 semester, Honors student Steven Nye successfully completed a compelling short documentary on airshows as part of an Honors tutorial in his Documentary Production course. His work illustrates just how talented our Honors students are.