Redondo Beach, CA - June 22, 2005 - Giancarlo Cetrulo, director of the SEA Lab, a program of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, announced today that Maria Madrigal, the SEA Lab’s Education Coordinator, has been honored as a recipient of the prestigious QuikScience Ocean Leadership Award for Informal Teaching Excellence. The Ocean Leadership Awards are a component of the USC-Quiksilver "QuikScience" partnership to recognize excellence in ocean science education (http://www.usc.edu/quikscience).
“I am so proud of Maria,” stated Cetrulo. “She is truly one of our greatest assets and a wonderful teacher. I am so pleased that her spirit and professionalism has been recognized.”
After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, Maria joined the SEA Lab as a corpsmember for two years. Her experience within the marine education field was very limited prior to that. During her first year as a corpsmember, she even learned how to swim and went snorkeling for her first time at Santa Cruz Island. Maria also earned a scholarship from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps through her service at SEA Lab, which helped Maria fund part of her graduate studies through the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. Now Maria tries to give back to the community by providing the same kinds of opportunities to other young people that she’s been fortunate enough to receive through her work with the SEA Lab.
The award will be presented by Judith D. Lemus, Ph.D., Director of Education Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California.
“It was a great surprise to be nominated by my mentor, Giancarlo, and extremely flattering to be recognized for the work that I love to do.”
About the SEA Lab, a program of the LA Conservation Corps
The SEA Lab is a hands-on coastal science education center in Redondo Beach that offers free and low cost programs for children of all ages to enjoy. College students trained by the LA Conservation Corps lead the activities, including beach explorations, touch tank tours and interactive classroom programs. The SEA Lab extends its programs into the community through summer camp programs, community service projects (including beach cleanups) and the Traveling Tide Pool mobile exhibit.
In addition to its youth programs, the SEA Lab also conducts coastal conservation activities such as rescuing marine animals trapped in the saltwater intake systems of local power plants, hosting marine-related research projects and replanting coastal bluffs with native plants.
The Los Angeles Conservation Corps, the largest nonprofit youth corps in the nation, received initial funding to operate the SEA Lab from Southern California Edison. With that support scheduled to end in 2006, LA Conservation Corps is striving to develop a broader funding base for this valuable program that educates more than 30,000 young people each year. For more information, visit www.lacorps.org and click on “SEA Lab.”
For more information contact:
Cheyanne Sauter: 213-362-9000, ext. 260, csauter@lacorps.org
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