Published in the Aug. 5-18, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Kahlan Tervalon

About a year and a half ago, my fifth grade class at Mount Madonna School decided to do a project on sea turtles. It was called “Don’t be a Nurdle, Save the Sea Turtle: Poaching, Bycatch & Plastic Pollution, Tell the World About Our Solution” where we made a movie and sold it, in addition to other activities to help the turtles.

The coolest thing was we raised more than $4,000 for the Indonesian Sea Turtle Conservation camp. We also tipped the scale a tiny bit so that Scotts Valley would have a plastic bag ban. Because of the work we put in, our class was one of 10 projects nationwide chosen to receive the President’s Environmental Youth Award.

There are lots of leatherback turtles that nest in Indonesia. The local people poach the females and eggs because they are a plentiful sources of food they have easy access to. We worked with Dr. Simona Bartl to create an Indonesian Sea Turtle camp to teach the people in one of the villages about how endangered the sea turtles are and suggested other sustainable food sources. I really thought it was fascinating that as a small school Mount Madonna raised more than $4,000. We can do anything that we set our minds to!

Scotts Valley had been thinking about a plastic bag ban. Our class presented to the Scotts Valley City Council a talk about how beneficial banning plastic bags would be for the environment, and specifically sea turtles. Our voice, along with all the other supporters of the plastic bag ban, swayed the elected officials’ decision in favor of passing it. It amazed me that a bunch of children’s voices put together to get to one common goal can change the minds of others.

Being recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama for our work was more than I expected. It made me feel more inclined to change the world for the better, and it made me realize every voice makes a difference. It made me feel appreciated. But the best reward is knowing that a few things in the world are just a bit better because we cared enough to try and change them.

Kahlan Tervalon is a Morgan Hill resident and current seventh grader at Mount Madonna School. She wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.