9/5/2013 - Mayor Finch Celebrates City’s Teen Wildlife Ambassadors
WHAT: Later this afternoon (Thursday, Sept. 5), Mayor Bill Finch will visit with members of the WildLife Guards, a team of intrepid Bridgeport high school students who have been participating in a new conservation jobs program. The students, who completed their program in August, will discuss with Mayor Finch some of the highlights of their time with the WildLife Guards.
Last April, on Earth Day weekend, Mayor Finch worked with the WildLife Guards on launching an effort to turn the Conservation Pond at Beardsley Park into an exceptional habitat for local wildlife.
“This innovative program is giving Bridgeport high school students direct job experience and skills that will benefit them throughout their lives,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “This program highlights two strengths of our community: the rare natural treasures found right here in our City and the important contribution that high school students can make to improving and protecting Bridgeport’s natural areas for people and wildlife.”
In November of 2012, the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, joined with the Student Conservation Student Conservation Association, Beardsley Zoo and the City of Bridgeport to launch the WildLife Guards Program as a means of increasing community awareness about beach nesting birds found at the City’s Pleasure Beach. At the heart of this program are a handful of Bridgeport youth, a highly motivated team of high school students, who will be out on the beaches this summer monitoring beach nesting bird species and explaining how beachgoers can successfully “share the shore” with wildlife.
Since the fall, the WildLife Guards have been receiving training in coastal ecology, green jobs and employment skills through the program. In turn, the Guards have developed and presented bird-themed activities to 120 elementary school students participating in Bridgeport’s Lighthouse Afterschool Program each month.
WHERE: Beardsley Park, Conservation Pond,
1875 Noble Ave., Bridgeport CT
WHEN: 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 5