While many students were kicking back after the end of a long school year, incoming Gunn High School freshman Sakshi Satpathy was working hard to set up Save Our Species, an interactive exhibition at the EcoCenter located in the midst of the beautiful Palo Alto Baylands. An active member of Troop 60324, Satpathy has been a Girl Scout for a little over a year since moving to the United States from India; the Save Our Species exhibition will earn her the Silver Award, the highest-level community service award possible for a Girl Scout of her age.
A culmination of three months of work, the final exhibition was put on display this last Sunday, June 14th. The exhibition focused on educating community members on local endangered species — namely, the Ridgway’s rail, salt water harvest 
mouse, monarch butterfly, and fountain thistle. To accomplish this, Satpathy partnered up with Environmental Volunteers, a non-profit organization dedicated to “promoting the understanding of and responsibility for the environment through hands-on science education.” The exhibit also featured a volunteer from the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, who provided information on Bay Area species and habitats and an art lesson from local artist Jan Pitcher, who paints local endangered birds and various other species around the world.
Upon entering the EcoCenter, I could immediately tell that Save the Species was no ordinary exhibit. With everything from an educational information station on each of the four endangered species, to real specimens viewable under microscopes, to a “Salt Marsh Survival” board game for the younger kids, the space included interactive displays, activities, and technology in order to fully engage visitors of every age and knowledge level. Through both visual explanation fun, hands-on games such as a computer trivia contest and a coloring station, Save the Species provided visitors with both excitement and new knowledge.
But that wasn’t all: another key feature of the exhibition was its focus on inspiring visitors to take action, highlighting the idea that every action matters, no matter how small. Thought-provoking questions at each station in the room (e.g.,“Why would we want to protect a weed?”) as well as a “How Can You Help?” poster filled with simple steps towards helping protect each of the four endangered species, made the idea of saving the local environment seem interesting, urgent, and — most importantly — possible.
When I asked Sakshi — who, like me, will be attending Gunn High School in the fall, why she picked this unique focus for her Girl Scout Silver Award project, she said, “A lot of focus is on water conservation these days, and I felt that endangered species would be a different topic. I also wanted to focus on something that we could change through conservation.”
And how can community members interested in and concerned about wildlife and environmental conservation make a difference? It’s simple, according to Sakshi- get involved. “The best way is to volunteer so you can learn from the people who created the organizations that are working to improve the environment. Once you take time to really learn about conservation and endangered species, you get more interested.”
Visitors can see Sakshi’s exhibit all summer at the EcoCenter in the Baylands, 2560 Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto. Admission is free.
