Sanibel Sea School welcomes marine science educators
The Sanibel Sea School welcomes two new seasonal, marine science educators to its team: Tiara Burton and Savanna Wilkinson. Arriving just in time to help kick off the school’s spring and summer seasons, they will assist with educational day courses and outreach programs.
Burton grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she fell in love with nature, adventure and exploring. While pursuing her biology degree at Boston University, she spent a semester in Ecuador studying tropical ecology, which inspired her to focus on ecology and conservation. After spending a semester following her professor through jungles, mountains, rivers, oceans and cloud forests, Burton discovered that hands-on experiential learning allows students to physically and intellectually experience the world they were learning about, ask deeper questions and take action with conservation-oriented research. It has ignited a passion in Burton to pursue a career in experiential education.
“Many of my favorite memories in school are from field trips and hands-on learning experiences where I was able to see, smell, touch and hear about the plants and animals I was excited about,” she said. “To have the opportunity to give those same experiences to others is very special to me, and I intend to make learning as fun as possible.”
Wilkinson was raised in Illinois and Iowa and is currently completing her degree in marine biology at Florida International University. She grew up vacationing on Sanibel and Captiva her family and as a child aspired to become a zoologist. In high school, Wilkinson completed college-credit classes within the marine biology and aquarium science fields where she learned how to propagate live corals and sea anemones and rear clownfish and jellyfish. The coursework motivated her to work in the marine science field and move to Southwest Florida to complete her bachelor’s degree near the islands that first helped her fall in love with the ocean.
Part of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation family, the Sanibel Sea School’s mission is to improve the ocean’s future, one person at a time.