Students Fundraise for Conservation Expedition to Honduras

Five A Level Biology students from City College Norwich are raising funds for an exciting expedition to undertake conservation management work in Honduras.  The students have volunteered for the programme through educational charity Operation Wallacea and are working to raise £10,000 to make the 2-week long trip in July possible.

Stephen Brighton, 18, Luke Burt, 18, Adam Hood, 17, Catherine Sadler, 19, and Kayleigh Wright, 17, will assist scientists from all over the world with important conservation research in the Central American republic.  This will involve collecting information about land-based and marine wildlife, such as carrying out surveys of the bat population. The students will be up against the challenge of a mountainous landscape and the high temperatures of the subtopic climate.  The expedition will involve a lot of hard work each day, followed by lectures each evening.  As a thank you for volunteering for the project the students will also be given the opportunity to do some open water diving whilst in Honduras.

In order to gain this invaluable life and scientific experience the students have to raise £2,000 each, to cover the costs of the expedition, travel and equipment such as wet suits and walking boots.  The group have already undertaken a sponsored bike ride which raised £600 and they are selling Operation Wallacea raffle tickets for the chance to win a car.  The students have also organised a car boot sale taking place at City College Norwich’s Ipswich Road campus on Sunday 11th April, with all proceeds going towards their fundraising effort.

A2 Biology student Catherine Sadler said: “I want to go on to study forensic biology at university. In Honduras we will be DNA finger printing, which will be very useful for me in my future course. I’m really looking forward to it, it will be excellent”.  Fellow student Kayleigh Wright, said: “I’m really excited about helping with conservation in Honduras.  Ever since I was little I wanted to help the environment and I love animals, so it will be an amazing experience.  I’m really excited.”

Rose Niescierowicz, Biology Lecturer at City College Norwich said: “This is a unique opportunity to take part in real biological research that supports local conservation management programmes.  What’s really exciting about this work is that it is not a classroom experiment or a mock exercise, it’s real science that leads to published work. It will be a really good life experience for all of the students, and will be invaluable for further study and work in biology and other conservation-related fields.”

Operation Wallacea is an established international conservation programme with projects in 7 remote locations across the world.  The projects give students from colleges and universities worldwide the opportunity to take part in valuable conservation research.  The expeditions are designed with specific wildlife conservation aims in mind, from identifying areas needing protection through to implementing and assessing conservation management programmes.  

Pitches for the students’ fundraising Car Boot Sale on Sunday 11th April (7am – 1pm) at City College Norwich can be booked by ringing 07725 256 325 .