An after-school club that focuses on protecting the Gulf of Mexico bridges a language-barrier by offering environmental science lessons, projects and field trips—conducted in English and Spanish—to students in coastal communities of Texas and Mexico.

   It all began in 1995 when a group of school children from Mexico participated in a unique program to study the Gulf of Mexico. Years later, as ninth graders in 2000, that same group of students returned to Corpus Christi and met with students from a local middle school to learn more about coastal environmental issues. To communicate with all students, facilitators and students found it easier to speak in both Spanish and English, which inspired the creation of the Science & Spanish Club Network (SSCN).

  Since 2000, the SSCN has expanded to other coastal zone communities from El Campo to Brownsville in Texas, to Matamoros and Tampico in Mexico. Clubs average 15-25 members, who receive bilingual science-based information about the Gulf of Mexico and regional ecology. Club members participate in beach cleanups, explore their watershed and estuaries through field trips, and actually get on or in their rivers, bays, and Gulf waters. Each May, all clubs send representatives to the Gulf of Mexico Community-based Youth Leadership in Stewardship Conference held at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi to develop a top-five coastal issues list to shape the next year’s activity plan.

  The SSCN partners with businesses, government entities, conservation foundations, and universities. For children, there is no cost to join a club, an economic factor that attracts a broader range of youth, many of whom do not normally participate in extracurricular activities. Aiming to foster a sense of attachment to local water bodies, the SSCN helps kids develop leadership skills and remain committed to safeguarding the Gulf of Mexico for years to come.