ReefNews has given 24 presentations to classrooms and communities in the past two weeks. These multimedia presentations brought the beauty and mystery of the oceans to students of all ages in San Salvador, Tierra Amarilla, Chama, Dixon, and Taos.

ReefNews traveled to San Salvador, The Bahamas to teach students about the treasure of the reefs near that island. Like many Caribbean islands, most of the children on San Salvador are not strong swimmers and never get to explore the reefs in the oceanic wilderness less than a mile from their shores. So the ReefNews presentations to the 1st- through 12th-grade classes allowed these students to see the beauty of their reefs in great detail. These presentations promoted environmental stewardship, encouraging the students to help stop problems such trash and pollution on the beaches and overfishing of species such as Groupers which has ruined so many reefs throughout the Caribbean. ReefNews also gave a presentation to the community, including San Salvador Administrator Jordan Ritchie. This presentation promoted the establishment of a marine park to protect some of San Salvador's beautiful reefs. These presentations were made possible by grants from Southwest Missouri State University, The College of the Ozarks, and the Gerace Research Center of the College of the Bahamas.

ReefNews also gave presentations to schools across northern New Mexico. These presentations promoted science education in New Mexico. ReefNews gave presentations to approximately 210 students and adults in Tierra Amarilla, 120 students in Chama, 40 students in Dixon, and 220 students and adults in Taos. While visiting Tierra Amarilla, one of the students asked to see pictures of Scorpionfish, which is why this issue of e-ReefNews features two pictures of this animal. These presentations were made possible by grants from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, Los Alamos National Bank, and Los Alamos Medical Center.

ReefNews is planning a community presentation at the Northern New Mexico Community College amphitheater in Espanola, New Mexico on Friday May 2, 2003 at 7:30 PM. Please note that this is a date change from the presentation previously scheduled on Thursday of this week. (The presentation was postponed because we had overlooked that this Thursday is a religious holiday.) Watch for the advertisements in the Rio Grande Sun newspaper. We hope you will join us for this exciting presentation about the reefs and islands at the site of the 1492 Christopher Columbus Landfall.