©2017 New England Aquarium, an affiliate of the HandsOn Connect, 1 Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110 | 617 - 973 - 5200
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At Voluntern 2016, we introduced the first annual live blue Service Corps Awards. These three awards are meant to recognize individuals that have dedicated their time and energy to our episodic program by regularly attending cleanups, citizen science projects, habitat restoration projects, and similar efforts all around the Greater Boston Area.
The three awards are:
"Deep Blue Award" given to a volunteer that puts in countless hours into addressing a single environmental issue. Whether it's returning to a single location for monthly cleanups or working towards a cause at numerous locations, this is given to an individual that has shown true dedication.
"Watershed Award" given to a volutneer that has volunteered a projects addressing a wide variety of issues, including projects never-before-seen on our calendar! This is given to an individual that simply aims to be invovled in everything.
"Service Leader of the Year" is given to one of our many volunteer Service Leaders that goes above and beyond the call of duty to plan and lead projects for the Service Corps.
At Voluntern 2017, the winners were:
Deep Blue Award: Karina Zawilinski, a member of our inaugural class of Marine Mammal Education Volunteers. Karina engaged hundreds of visitors in the marine mammal center, sharing her knowledge and passion about our seals and sea lions. While we only required 6 shifts of volunteers, she completed 17 before the position ended. Karina has also donated her time taking photos of volunteers in action here in the building, and still has time to support our field work through various cleanups and festivals.
Watershed Award: Michelle Somoza. Since entering the Service Corps a year ago, Michelle has cleaned miles of coastline, educated countless visitors at various festivals, monitored shorebirds in Revere, and collected data for our visitor experience department, just to name a few. Volunteers like her remind us just how much the Service Corps can contribute to Greater Boston’s natural spaces, and inspire us to keep up the work every year.
Service Leader of the Year: Donna Paterson. Donna has been with the Service Corps since the beginning, in 2014. Donna has been consistently dedicated to the program, leading groups in storm drain labeling, installing shorebird fencing, and, most notably, organizing our recurring projects seeding quahog beds down in Barnstable. For her consistent dedication as a Leader, her support of volunteers from all walks of life, and her ongoing support of Barnstable’s sustainable seafood programs, the Service Leader of the Year Award goes to Donna Paterson.
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