While taking the Citizen Scientist Certification of the San Juan Bay Estuarythe teacher Karla Santiago Silver He knew that his high school students could follow in his footsteps and also obtain knowledge and skills that they would later replicate in restoration and conservation efforts.
Without hesitation, he said, “I called the (school) director in the summer and asked her if I could make this Estuary program part of that year’s ecology curriculum, and she authorized me.”
“I talked to my students, and the tenth (grade) students decided to do the mangroves curriculum, and the 11th and 12th graders did the corals one,” added Santiago Silver, who teaches at the Montessori School of Puerto Rico, located in the hydrographic basin of the San Juan Bay.
Some classes, he shared, were offered by Estuary staff and they even attended – as a group – field trips.
“The students were super delighted. “They have been talking about this (environmental science) in a curriculum in the classroom, in the book, looking at images on the internet and, suddenly, they had the opportunity to apply it there, physically, so it was super cool.”he highlighted.
The Citizen Scientist Certification premiered in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, with a view to strengthening the relationship between the community and environmental sciences. Through the program, the Estuary trains all interested parties free of charge by teaching scientific and technical skills, field experiences, and developing awareness about science and the environment.
“El Estuario decided not only to continue working with citizens, but to formalize and structure our approach to citizens so that they could obtain, in an organized way, those technical and scientific skills and speak our same language”said the executive director of the non-profit organization, Brenda Torres Barreto.
For the past years, he added, the Estuary has offered the certification concurrently, in order to provide a document that legitimizes the scientific knowledge learned by the participants and is a “marketable” title, so that they can work and collaborate in the field of environmental sciences or reconstruction after the passage of the Hurricane Maria (2017) or other phenomena.
“It is a field that we know will continue to grow because, as we know, the funds that have arrived in Puerto Rico are funds for reconstruction. “Who is going to do it if we are not the ones who are suffering in vulnerable areas?” he argued.
The requirements
The Citizen Scientist Certification began with the modules of Water Quality Monitoring and Participatory Bird Censuses. After a year, a third was added, Characterization and Reduction of Microplasticsand the fourth and most recent, Coastal Resilienceis offered from 2022.
Last Tuesday, in fact, the Estuary recognized 15 citizens who completed certification in the Coastal Resilience module. It was the first “graduation” since the creation of the module.
Torres Barreto explained that, to be certified, people must complete at least one of the four modules and complete 25 contact hours. In addition, they must take an introductory workshop and attend field experiences, in which they apply what they have learned. Applicants for certification have the opportunity to choose which days they will participate in the events.

“We have been operating the San Juan Bay estuary for 30 years. So, through all these 30 years, we have identified the Estuary niche. Where are we really being needed? Through those experiences, we have said: ‘we have to put our boots on, we have to be more structured’”said Torres Barreto.
“This whole process was not developed without experts behind it. “We have people who have analyzed all the scientific data that we have collected and have codified it in a pedagogical way that can make it possible for us to educate citizens,” he added.
Among the tasks that certified citizen scientists perform, the executive director mentioned monitoring the water quality in the San Juan Bay estuary, the identification of sanitary discharges in bodies of water, the reforestation of coastal vegetation and the evaluation of corals and sea grasses.
Beyond commitment and motivation, the Citizen Scientist Certification requires nothing from participants. It is offered free of charge, does not require prior scientific knowledge and the training workshops are virtual to facilitate attendance.
“It opens doors for me”
Since 2020, nearly 500 people have been certified and 4,850 have participated in the educational modules, of which 20% are high school studentsTorres Barreto detailed, indicating that the program was extended to these students in 2023.
“Not only do high school students get an opportunity to improve their resume, but they also live close to the communities and get involved with us,” he highlighted.

“This experience, practically in a week, opens doors for me to see what I can specialize in in the future and lets me see that I have several paths in which to specialize”commented, for his part, Kibsaim Márquez Montañezstudent of Marine Biology at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and citizen scientist.
In the future, Torres Barreto raised the need to “make a much broader effort” to train citizen scientists in the San Juan Bay estuary watershed region, which includes 97 square miles.
“Our role has been to structure this great opportunity for them in a very clear way, so that they learn the skills well; structure them how to obtain that certification… how, eventually, to work with us. I feel that all these steps are the responsibility of the Estuary because, otherwise, it is impossible for them to focus on a plan as ambitious as supporting the resilience of highly vulnerable areas, such as the metropolitan region of San Juan,” he stated. .