The new life sciences teacher at Tomales High is planning to use a $20,000 state grant to fund camping trips, science projects and labs that she hopes will inspire her students, who haven’t had many such opportunities after two years of Covid. Last month, the California Coastal Commission announced that the Shoreline Unified School District was among fewer than 100 recipients of this year’s coastal and marine education grants. Tomales science teacher Allie Sherman, an Inverness resident who began teaching at the school last fall, wrote the grant application with her own students in mind.
Teaching at Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo last year, she saw the benefits reaped by a more privileged school district. “I really wanted to set a precedent my first year here,” Ms. Sherman said. “Coming from Archie Williams, the program I was teaching there has this history of amazing trips, and they’re really funded by parents. I want my students to have those same opportunities.”
Though they live closer to the ocean, the predominantly Latino students at Tomales High have less access to coastal nature and fewer hands-on science experiences. “They all have jobs,” Ms. Sherman said. “There’s not a lot of time to really enjoy the place that they’re living. Many have never gone camping before.”
The grant, part of a coastal commission program funded by sales of special “Whale Tail” license plates, will fund most of a wide-ranging experiential learning curriculum devised by Ms. Sherman with support from administrators. Ms. Sherman’s marine science and A.P. environmental science students will be able to take four field trips to Salt Point State Park, the Point Reyes National Seashore’s Clem Miller Environmental Education Center, Elkhorn Slough Reserve and, most excitingly for many, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Kids will design their own investigations into the coastal impacts of climate change, survey marine bird and mammal populations at Point Reyes, study tidepools in person, and conduct restoration work on a seasonal stream on campus and monitor it for biodiversity. They’ll also have a water quality testing lab at Walker Creek, which Ms. Sherman said will open up the opportunity for honest discussions about the impacts of agriculture and contemporary debates over land use in West Marin.
“Many students’ families work on local cattle ranches and personally experience the outcomes of controversies around conservation and the use of public lands,” she wrote in her grant application. “Most students, however, express not fully understanding the issues and sides. A deep exploration of the environmental impacts of cattle ranching is empowering for the community and could be transformative.”
This discussion could even blossom into an interdisciplinary debate with the social studies class, Ms. Sherman said, incorporating the viewpoints of ranchers, environmental activists and the National Park Service. “It’s important that we don’t pretend that stuff is not happening,” Ms. Sherman told the Light. “I have one student who lives on one of the ranches where there was an elk protest in front of her house.”
The Whale Tail program expanded this year with additional funds from the state, and granted more than $3 million to 91 applicants across California. Other local recipients include the nonprofit Turtle Island Restoration Network, which received a $50,000 grant for internships.
But hands-on school activities are a perfect fit for the Whale Tail grants, said Chris Parry, the coastal commission’s director of public programs. “There’s a strong emphasis on outdoor education or experiential learning,” Ms. Parry said. “It’s an education program and we’re really trying to get kids outside and learning in the field as much as we can. For the vast majority, we’re looking at the communities that historically lacked these opportunities.”
Even with the grant, there are still funding barriers for Ms. Sherman’s plan. Her class will still have to raise about $3,000 for a charter bus to the aquarium and she is searching for funds to buy tents, binoculars, rubber boots and other gear. Until now, the students have been using gear that belongs to Ms. Sherman’s partner, a wildlife biologist. “It would be really nice to get our own stuff,” she said.
To donate, email Allie Sherman at [email protected].