New Opportunities in Marine Science

Shara Fisler educates children by introducing them to nature and the ocean right in their neighborhoods through various free hands-on programs in San Diego. Approximately one in five children living in San Diego County lives in poverty and many do not have access to the ocean because they do not have a car or public transportation. Fisler has decided to bring organisms and experiments to their classrooms and bring students to tide pools and wetlands where they can learn to swim, snorkel, and investigate. There is even a program in place that allows students to travel to Baja California, Mexico to spend the summer outdoors to experience what it is like to be a field biologist. She has taught these children that you can learn about technology, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics all from the ocean in which they live close by to.

Her program started as a summer camp with only 30 campers and took place in a small makeshift laboratory with microscopes. Now Fisler’s program reaches 20,000 children in the community and is working towards building a Living Lab by the spring of 2017, a state-of-the-art science and environmental facility, where families can see science and conservation and how it is relevant to their lives. It will be a place for those who are interested in research and working with scientists to further their knowledge in the sciences.

Fisler’s program has inspired many children in San Diego to explore scientific careers that they did not know even existed. She said that many of her students had never even considered a science field and are now going to college to become scientists. Fisler has created an amazing program that inspires and gives the opportunity to those who are interested in marine sciences.