Roots and Shoots Internship Program

About Roots & Shoots

Roots & Shoots is an environmental group dedicated to serving and preserving our planet. It was first started in 1991 by Dr. Jane Goodall, most famous for her ground-breaking studies of Chimpanzees in Gambi National Park, Tanzania. Since it's first meeting on her porch in Tanzania it has grown to encompass more than 7,500 groups in over 90 different countries. Roots & Shoots is a group for all ages and all communities. It works to help everyone: the environment, animals, and human communities. Each group does service projects in their own community to help out a local issue, as well as funding for animals, people, and environment that might need help in other countries or areas. The mission of Roots and Shoots is to foster understanding and respect for all cultures and living things, to help youth develop confidence, and inspire people to make a difference in the world through learning, compassion, and action.

The Root & Shoots program at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School is very well known group. They hosted the North American Youth summit in 2004 here on Cape Cod. In the past few years the group has done many different projects including participating in the annual Coastsweep, which is a beach cleanup organized and done all around the world. They have also helped the Cape Cod Youth Council on Sustainability in planting a sustainable garden at the MSPCC, as well as participating in the One World Youth Project and cultural exchange with their sister school in Tanzania, fund raising for hurricane and tsunami relief efforts, as well as promoting and selling environmentally friendly compact florescent light bulbs. The most recent project was a photo journal about the struggles of living on the Cape, including housing, food, poverty, and transportation which is available at local libraries on Cape Cod.

With the Roots & Shoots program advancing, and expanding the areas of their involvement, it was felt that the creation of a marine component is a logical and well needed step in our goal of helping the environment and humanity. Out of this need arose a marine research internship-collaboration between the Roots & Shoots organization and the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch. As the first major ocean oriented project of Roots & Shoots, students are given the opportunity to both help with important data collection, adding to out understanding of whales and other marine life, as well as gaining the experience of working with well known whale experts in a realistic environment. The three current interns record data, including the location, type of and behavior of whales. Interaction with the public is another important component of the internship program, as the students help explain and inform the whale watchers on the whales they are seeing, and the Roots & Shoots program. At the conclusion of the first summer of the program, the students will put together a project concentrated on a single aspect of the research conducted. Ultimately, this new program is adding to the understanding of a group of animals that little is known about, and in the end helping their survival.

This internship between the CCLCS Roots & Shoots group and the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch is one that the group is very happy to be participating in and being able to offer this chance to their students.

Meet Sylvia Tomayko-Peters

Sylvia currently interns with the Dolphin Fleet through the Roots & Shoots program from the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans. This fall Sylvia will be a freshman at Nauset Region High School. She greatly enjoys being able to work on the boats and help the naturalists collect data as well as being able to interact with the people on board. "This is a wonderful opportunity for me to see another side of the place where I live. Also, it's right up my alley!" She is especially interested in the conservation aspect of the whale watching.

As well as participating in Roots & Shoots, Sylvia is also a member of the Cape Cod Youth Council on Sustainability, a group run completely by youth working towards preserving the Cape, and the One World Youth Project, which connects students from across the world promoting youth leadership. Sylvia has attended a summit in Washington D.C. for this group where she spoke at a congressional reception and lobbied her congressmen for further funding of international aide.

Sylvia also enjoys reading and most of all writing. Her goal is to find a way to combine her poetry and writing with her dreams as an activist to help create a understanding and peaceful world.

Meet Jackson Niles

My name is Jackson Niles, and I am proud to be one of the first three students involved in the Roots & Shoots - Dolphin Fleet internship program. I currently am a Sophomore at Nauset High School. I attended the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School for middle school and I now participate in the Cape Cod Youth Council on Sustainability, an environmental organization focused to aiding the Cape’s human community and environment.

I also participate in the New England Roots & Shoots Youth Leadership Council, which helps to guide and give support to the Roots & Shoots of New England. I hope to continue the internship program in the future.