k-8th Grade Assembly @ Harbor Day School – Corona Del Mar, CA

On Wednesday April 15th, our Creative Director gave a school-wide K-8th grade assembly at Harbor Day School in Corona Del Mar, CA. The students watched an interactive presentation on ecosystems, the importance of every species to the web-of-life, and then went into detail about endangered species and the work our organization and our partners are doing to save them. The kids heard fun facts about some of our world’s most majestic and most threatened wildlife in Africa: elephants, rhinos and lions. They learned the important roles these species play in their ecosystems and the threats they are facing that have led them to being endangered. They saw video clips of the work our partners do in Africa: a rescue of a baby out of a well by Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Christian the Lion running to embrace his owners after being released in the wild for over a year, and our partners at the Rhino Orphanage bottle feeding the baby rhinos. The students seemed to love it- lots of gasps and laughs and “aww” moments, especially during the videos. At the end they all stood up and made an “O” with their arms over there heads – giving a standing ovation – too cute! Some kids came up after expressing their desires to do a lemonade stand and contribute their raised funds. And we’ll be picking up their letters to representatives next week! The letters will be asking our the Secretary of State and U.S. Fish & Wildlife service to list the African Lion as “endangered” (which will yield more protections and stop the import of their parts) rather than “threatened” as they’re currently listed. They are also writing to our State Senators requesting they support the newly introduced bill to ban bullhooks (harmful tools used on Elephants in entertainment, circuses, rides, etc.). We hope this will help the kids see how they can do things to make a difference!