We always include a Project AWARE conservation element in our school group programs; it's one of the ways we give back to the environment and make the right impression on impressionable minds.
With the kids from the Australian International School (AIS), Singapore, that visited us recently, it was no different.
Earlier in the week we conducted PADI Junior Open Water Courses for this group of 14, and - did we notice after the Sharks in Peril workshop we conducted with them - they were quite keen on the environmental side of things too.
Downbelow had also planned a beach clean-up for them, one with an impactful message.
By boat we took them to a deserted beach. At first they wondered why a deserted beach, pondering the likelihood of how much rubbish there could be.
But our resident Course Director Richard, had purposefully planned this stage for his Marine Debris message.
Arriving at the beach it was, predictably, littered with marine debris. The kids were puzzled, but Richard then explained to them how marine debris start out as something somebody throws out of a car window.
The kids eagerly followed the journey of the improperly discarded rubbish as Richard explained it's journey from road to gutter to storm water drain to ocean current, until it ends up around their feet where they were standing.
The message was visual and effective. They learned how they personally can make a difference.
Going back to Singapore they have to report back, at a school assembly in front of the whole school, about what they learned here in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and the message of marine debris will perpetuate.
Together we can make a difference; one impressionable mind at a time.