Growing up in the British Virgin Islands, Rebecca truly grew up a child of the ocean making developing an undeniable love of the ocean inevitable. Passionate about inspiring a love of the ocean in others, she began teaching swimming and water safety at the age of 11. Rebecca has been involved with swimming in the British Virgin Islands now for 12 years and has run her own swim school for the past 6 years. Through this, she works with many other organizations to give everyone the opportunity to learn to swim and educate the community about the ocean and how to protect it.

As well as her work, Rebecca spends a significant amount of time in, on and around the water scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, swimming and freediving. Volunteering whenever possible with community organizations such as the Association of Reef Keepers to get involved with their conservation efforts, and turtle tagging. Whether it be educational talks, swim lessons, trash to treasure sculptures or exploring underwater; raising awareness about the ocean and teaching others to love it is a large part of her life. Rebecca believes in finding adventure in everyday life; continuously learning new skills and activities.

Campaign Update:

My campaign focused on ocean education within the British Virgin Islands (BVI) community with the goal of educating the public about the importance of protecting the ocean through marine protected areas and the creatures within it. During August I was able to hold a virtual beach clean up during our regular festival days where the beaches would have the most use and therefore have the most trash. I then proceeded to provide the community with many fun and educational activities throughout the month of August. These included free swim and snorkeling lessons! Within these we partnered with local nonprofit organizations like Unite BVI and Green VI who visited the sessions and spoke further on recycling, upcycling and using reusable products. Children were able to get involved and learn more about our ocean and the animals by reading books, doing activities and exploring the ocean. We were also able to reach all the parents of these children, who became very interested and involved in learning about ocean conservation and protection. Most of the parents and children had little to no knowledge about the issues are oceans are facing. I then organized an Ocean Conservation art contest open to all ages where participants researched a BVI Ocean Animal, wrote about it, made a video, or created a piece of art highlighting it. The submissions have been absolutely wonderful and it has been a great learning opportunity for the community!