2024 Hawai’i Island Student Scuba Scholarship Program
Welcome to Ocean Defenders Alliance first-ever Student Scuba Scholarship Program!
We are thrilled and truly humbled to create and offer such an important and impactful program along with our partner, Kohala Divers, that will help drive our mission: working to clean and protect marine ecosystems through documentation, education, and meaningful action and to work with affected communities, focusing primarily on the reduction and removal of man-made debris which poses serious threats to ocean wildlife and habitats.
What is the Student Scuba Scholarship Program?
This program offers a full scholarship for Open Water Scuba Certification to students currently enrolled in a local high school between the ages of 15-18 years, as well as a full scholarship for the Dive Against Debris Certification after their Open Water Certification is completed. We are offering over a dozen scholarships!
The Open Water Scuba Certification course will be provided by Kohala Divers using their dive pools and boats. The Dive Against Debris Certification will be conducted during one of ODA’s active cleanups and will teach students how to safely remove debris from the ocean.
Each student will become fully educated and immersed in safe diving practices, green fins diving, and conservation efforts all rolled into one. This Dive Against Debris Certification introduces an entirely new world to each student who gets certified. It offers a new perspective when diving with our beautiful marine life as to just how much rubbish there really is in our oceans.
With each new Dive Against Debris Certification, our ocean has a better chance of becoming marine debris free!
Four top students will be given a special opportunity.
We will chose four students, once certification is completed, to receive a free two-tank dive trip with our partner, Kohala Divers. These four will be selected based on demonstrated commitment to the program, enthusiasm, and willingness to follow all instruction during the Open Water Certification process.
ODA will provide each student with use of a GoPro to capture footage of their dive! The four students will submit an essay explaining the importance of their footage and why they chose to film what they did. One of the four will then be selected to receive a $200 gift card to Kohala Divers!
Application period has been extended.
Please submit as soon as possible so that we can arrange the interviews and look into scheduling a class.
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Why is this program so important?
Ocean wildlife and ecosystems face many threats from marine debris. Over 800,000 tons of fishing gear is lost at sea each year, and the floating equipment entangles and traps wildlife and destroys their habitat.
Additionally, plastic trash is ubiquitous and takes hundreds of years to breakdown. It not only leaches toxins but many pieces of plastic are mistaken by ocean wildlife as food. There are many other types of rubbish, that also threaten the health of our oceans, and must be removed.
Since the year 2000, Ocean Defenders Alliance has removed 526 abandoned traps, 50,620 feet of trap lines, and 38,289 pounds of nets!
In 2016, ODA started working in Hawai’i, and has removed about 220,685 feet of fishing lines, 10,386 lbs of lead fishing weights, 1,605 fishing hooks, and 845 tires! ODA's total weight of all the debris is 145,752 pounds, which is roughly 69 tons!!
There is still so much work to be done. Although we continue to get more and more volunteers each year, we always need even more than we get!
Why only high school students?
Our younger generation plays such a large and important role in our mission, not only by getting scuba certified young, but also to educate family, friends, and those around them!
Soon these students will be graduating high school and beginning their education in college and working toward their future careers. Having the knowledge and the skills of removing debris from the ocean, being aware of the impact they are making, and knowing how much is still left to do, may help to guide them on their future career and continue their conservation efforts in many different ways!
There are many families who have been fishing for generations throughout Hawai'i and California. Removing fishing line, lead weights, homemade fishing weights from car parts and golf balls, is a great educational tool for families to create better fishing practices and educate others as well.
We truly hope this will invigorate a new generation of divers and ocean conservationists to come together for a common goal and use of many different skill sets to continue to expand all conservation efforts. The ocean needs our help and TOGETHER we can make a difference!
Application period has been extended.
Please submit as soon as possible so that we can arrange the interviews and look into scheduling a class.
