December 2013: SoundGeneration – High school students create their own approach to protecting Long Island Sound

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Each week, the Coastal Center is abuzz with the activities of SoundGeneration, a network of high school students recruited by SoundWaters who are committed to learning about Long Island Sound, gaining job skills, and working as a team to engage their classmates in community action to protect the Sound.

Nineteen students from seven high schools – Westhill, Stamford, AITE and Trinity Prep in Stamford; Darien; Greenwich; and Laurelton Hall in Milford – arrive after school ready to literally get their hands wet. The SoundGeneration team works on two tracks: as associate aquarists who help maintain the tanks and feed the animals, and also as a team devoted to researching marine debris and developing a campaign to protect the Sound.

Rosie Sibilio, a senior at Westhill High School joined SoundGeneration because she wanted on-the-job experience. “I thought it would be awesome,” she said. “I want to be an environmental scientist and wanted to get my hands dirty – and I’m glad I did.”

Getting her hands dirty is exactly what she was doing on a recent afternoon, dipping her hand into one of the Teaching Aquarium fish tanks, and trying to maneuver a net to pull out rocks and then sand, to clean the tanks, literally from bottom up.

She was joined by Morgan Burns, a senior at Lauralton Hall in Milford. A Stamford resident who grew up along the Sound, Morgan said she “always loved marine biology” and still remembers sailing aboard the schooner SoundWaters with her elementary school class to learn about the science of the Sound.

Their SoundGeneration mission, which they’ve heartily embraced, is not only job training, but real-time experience in developing and coordinating a specific spring project for their classmates. Guided by the SoundWaters education staff, the process has just begun, with regular meetings to explore the possibilities and identify the necessary assignments, tasks and details to pull off a successful event.

They bring tremendous enthusiasm to the challenge. Steven Brown, a Stamford High senior who had “an awesome experience” as a SoundWaters camp counselor this past summer, said he “jumped at the chance” when he learned he could return during the school year with the SoundGeneration team: “I just had to be a part of it again,” he said.

Funded in part by the Perrin Family Foundation, SoundGeneration is giving these students an opportunity to grow as a team, and as leaders in their community. Stay tuned to learn how their project unfolds.