Volunteer hoping to recruit teachers for ocean program

      Cyndi Wylie remembers sitting on the shores of the California beaches as a child, watching the dolphins surf through the waves and the grey whales migrate.
      "I feel really privileged I was able to be around the beach. I didn't have to be taught (about it)," said Wylie, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif.
      Now a Las Vegas resident, Wylie is hoping to spread her enthusiasm for marine life to teachers and pupils in the Clark County School District via the Wyland Ocean Challenge of America -- an environmental education program that links the world of science and art.
      Wylie has volunteered to recruit teachers to use the program, which is sponsored in part by the Wyland Foundation and the Orange County Marine Institute.
      Robert Wyland, a leading eco-artist and creator of the largest mural in history called "Planet Ocean," is scheduled to tour the United States, stopping at schools throughout the nation at the end of the year.
      The program is dedicated to the memory of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It is also a celebration of the International Year of the Ocean, which was declared by the United Nations, in recognition of the importance of the marine environment. The 1998 designation provides individual organizations and governments with an opportunity to raise public awareness and understanding of the ocean and related issues.
      More than 70 percent of the surface of the Earth is covered by water, and, according the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of every six jobs in the Untied States is marine related.
      Wylie said she was "hoping there would be about 20" volunteers in Las Vegas to get the word out about the program. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and now it's up to her.
      The program is free and a Challenge kit will be issued to participating schools throughout the nation. The kit will include a video, a full-color poster, lesson plans, curriculum, certificates of participation and more.
      "It's broken down into seven different curriculum projects, each 30 or 40 minutes long," said Wylie, who is an intensive care nurse at Valley Hospital.
      The projects, which will focus on the great white shark, sea lions, squids and other marine inhabitants, include writing songs and poems, research projects, mini-documentaries, individual art projects and a team art project. All projects should be completed by the end of October.
      "I want response," Wylie said. "I want my phone to ring off the hook."
      Any educators interested in the program can call Wylie at 655-0109 or access the Wyland Foundation Web site at www.wylandfoundation.org.