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Gulliver Prep’s Silver Knight nominee in the Science category is senior Gabrielle Gleason.
She is a dedicated zoo volunteer and climate speaker.
“I am a Conservation Teen Scientist,” she says.
The teens work to create empathy for the animals by talking to visitors about their personalities and what zoo visitors can do to help preserve them.
“Solutions that are comfortable for people who have everyday jobs,” she says.
On her days at the zoo, she would tour the zoo with a team of volunteers.
She would talk about the dangers the animals face, including harvesting of palm oil. The palm oil is harvested in Malaysia and Indonesia using a slash and burn technique.
“It’s killing a lot of these animals,” she says.
Gleason grew up in the Florida Keys, spending time outdoors observing the coral reefs and
turtles.
“I saw coral reef bleaching, which stresses out the coral and can cause coral reefs to die,” she says. “I realized how coral reefs were fading and wanted to do something.”
So, when she heard there was an opportunity to volunteer at the zoo, she took action.
“I’ve had a lot of fun in changing people’s minds,” she says. “Kids will absorb what I’m talking about, then they will go and talk to their families, and they’ll talk to their friends. It’s impactful.”
Gleason has also worked with the CLEO Institute as a Climate Change educator.
“I give presentations to kids my age on the impact of climate change on the local community,” she says.
She talks about hurricanes and how high ocean temperatures are causing an increase in hurricane strength. And how climate change is causing local flooding.
“We talk about the difference between weather and climate,” she says. “Weather is short term, climate is long term.”
At school, she’s a member of the Environmental Club. Club members do many beach clean-ups, so she suggested to the club to stop using plastic bags for the clean-ups and use burlap sacks instead. The sacks are washed between clean-ups and don’t contribute to waste.
“Another thing I helped do, as part of my environmental club, we had an earth week, which we did with Gen Cleo,” she says. “Kids would donate clothes they didn’t use anymore. We would have a store and re-sell the clothes. All the profits would go to the Lotus House, a women’s and children’s center.”
At Gulliver she mentors freshmen as a Link Mentor and a member of the National Honor
Society, the National English Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society, Psi Alpha, the Cum Laude Society, and she’s a National Merit Scholar and a member of the HEAL Club.
She’s collaborating with an engineer on developing a bracelet for those with sensory integration disorder.
“It’s for kids, or people who have trouble processing sensory information,” she says.
Kids and adults with this issue can’t manage all the feelings at the same time. She has two
cousins with this disorder.
She entered the project into the Conrad Challenge and her team was named Conrad Innovators.
They are still working on adjusting the bracelet, so it can become a purchasable project.
She’s still deciding on which college to attend for cellular biology. She’s been accepted to the University of Florida, Villanova, and the University of Richmond. Her goal is to work in
biotechnology as a researcher.
Last summer she volunteered for Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket (MMAN). She plans to do so again this summer.
“I was the youngest volunteer accepted,” she says. “I was always available on call to respond to seal stranding on the island.”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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