Mirei Endara de Heras works to support the Academia Interamericana de Panama, a private school (Pre-K to 12th grade) in enhancing environmental awareness, by interacting with teachers, administrative staff, student environmental groups and parent-teacher association.

To date, she has supported the participation of the school in 1) hosting an ecological fair (the topic 2 years ago was migratory birds, the photos are from this event), 2) the creation of a student ecological group (eco-AIP), they are mostly interested in recycling, 3) made a proposal of environmental curricula to teachers (school-wide, but also by grades) of which some activities have been developed, 4) through different contacts in the environmental sector in Panama, was able to get 2 teachers trained one in jaguar monitoring and the other on climatic change, 5) had the school receive a donation of Coiba National Park books, a special edition originally only for kids around the national park, but now available in the library and each student in elementary school received a copy and a presentation by the organization that elaborated the book, 6) for Earth day coordinated the visit of a marine conservation organization to create awareness on the cruel methods used to get shark fins, 7) recently made a specific proposal for 1st, third and ninth grades on topics for students to have hands on experiences with their\ surroundings, and 8) continuous collaboration with different organizations to identify new projects for kids to do in the school.

For the future, Mirei Heras hopes to involve other schools, already started talking to a new school – El Colegio de Panama, I have a meeting pending with the school’s director.