Thirteen students from the Lewis County Juvenile Detention facility in Chehalis, Washington attended a workshop about local marine mammals on November 21st, 2019. Aarin Wilde program manager from FOSS Waterway Seaport in Tacoma led the workshop. This workshop was part of an ongoing environmental education workshop series that takes place bi-monthly in the detention facility and is coordinated by Rachel Stendahl with Capital Region ESD 113.
During the workshop, the students were able to touch a wide variety a marine mammal bones and other artifacts including a Humpback whale vertebrae, a sea lion skull, Dall’s porpoise vertebrae and gray whale baleen. They learned about our local marine mammal species and the differences between baleen and toothed whales, seals and sea lions and did a size comparison activity between several species.
The students were very engaged with the topic and were excited to see the unique marine mammal items up close. Most of the students had very little prior knowledge about marine mammals and told us they were very grateful for this fun and engaging experience.
