Lee’s Reef Project believes that interactive education is the key to understanding, so we focus on activities and games that are not only educational and fun for the children, but also address key issues affecting the local environment. 

Reef Fest is an annual training event, organized by Lee’s Reef Project , aimed at training local primary school teachers in interactive environmental education.  Each august, experts from Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance (Caribbean SEA), and Project Learning Tree come to Curacao to work with the teachers to create an interactive curriculum based on the natural wonders of Curacao. 

Reef Fest 2009, which took place from August 27^th – 30^th, was an incredibly special event.  It marked the first time that we trained local teachers to be project facilitators. Eight teachers from the five schools we work with spent an extra day learning how to not only teach the activities to children, but also other teachers as well.  The facilitators then organized and implemented the training sessions alongside the experts during Reef Fest.  It made the event more personal, educational and fun, and gave the teachers a sense of ownership over the event. 

What’s in store for 2010?

In 2010, we plan our carrying out our remaining 31 expeditions until the school semester ends in June along with Reef Fest 2010 which will take place sometime in late summer or early fall. Additionally, we are going to have set office hours at LRP Headquarters in the Soto Sentro di Bario, which are posted on our contact page. This will give the local community a chance to stop by and talk to one of our interns if they have questions, comments or concerns.  

We had such a wonderful learning experience with the teacher leader field trip to Plastic Baai on December 5, 2009 and we hope to organize more field trips for teachers and teacher leaders in 2010.  Also, LRP hopes  to expand to the schools in the Willemstad area with a Reef Fest East in the upcoming year; however we cannot undertake this large endeavor without the dedication and support from the schools and community members.  Like 2009, 2010 wil have its share of adversity and success. No matter the circumstances, LRP will continue to pursue its mission and in turn, make Curacao a better place everday.

Thank you teachers for being apart of Reef Fest!