Hawaiʻi Community College’s new marine program provides unique research opportunities for students

During the first year of Hawai‘i Community College’s recently formed Marine Option Program, students counted and studied 80 endangered green sea turtles along the coastline of the Big Island.

The program is designed to assist students interested in relating the ocean to their educational and career aspirations. Students can obtain a marine orientation to their own degree while earning an Academic Subject Certificate.

The program emphasizes experiential cross-disciplinary education and provides opportunities to apply traditional course work to the real world while students obtain practical marine skills through a “hands-on” internship, research or employment.

“Even though we’re the youngest program in the entire system, Hawai‘i Community College’s Marine Option Program is one of the most unique in that we offer research in sea turtles and other endangered species,” said Jen Sims, coordinator of the Marine Option Program.

This year, students worked hands-on in the Hilo Sea Turtle Health and Population Assessment Program through a special research permit with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Under faculty supervision, they hand-captured turtles, assessed their health, measured and weighed them, and applied tags for tracking. Rsearch was conducted at Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach and Haʻena Beach on Hawai‘i Island.

“I took a zoology class at Hawaiʻi Community College and in my lab portion we got to go to Punalu‘u. We did turtle tagging, which was very inspiring to me because since I was a child I’ve wanted to do marine science,” graduate Eliea Mitchell-Butler said. “And to be able to do it and get involved with the local community was very touching because [the 40-year data set at Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach] is the largest and longest-going database worldwide on green sea turtles.”

The program also offers internships, research projects and cultural fieldwork open to all majors.

For more information about the Marine Option Program at Hawai‘i Community College, email Sims at jlsims@hawaii.edu or visit the website.