MERITO Foundation

🐢🌊 Happy World Sea Turtle Day! Did you know that the MERITO Foundation’s logo and mascot is the Leatherback Sea Turtle?

The Leatherback is one of only seven species of marine sea turtles and is the largest of them all, growing up to 6 feet long and weighing more than 1,100 pounds! 🤯Unfortunately, Leatherbacks are an endangered species and face numerous threats throughout their lives, including entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, marine debris, and habitat loss. These gentle ocean giants play an important role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems and are a species worth learning about and protecting.

This World Sea Turtle Day, we invite you to learn more about Leatherback Sea Turtles and discover ways you can help protect them! 💙Visit NOAA Fisheries to learn more!

🌿Join us TODAY at the Condor Country Nature Festival in Fillmore!

Hosted by the Friends of California Condors, this fun event brings together local organizations dedicated to protecting our open spaces, wildlife, and natural resources 🌎

Bring your family and friends to learn about the work being done to protect our environment 🌱 Stop by the MERITO Foundation booth and say hi! See you soon! 🌿

During the 2025–2026 school year, the MERITO Foundation engaged 488 students from Mar Vista Elem, R.J Frank MS, Fremont Academy, and afterschool programs at Hathway Elem and Bard Elem schools in hands-on environmental education focused on Ormond Beach & Wetland 💙

Students explored wetland ecology, habitat restoration, wildlife monitoring, and pollution prevention through classroom lessons and immersive field experiences. They also learned from Chumash educators Julie Tumamait-Stenslie and Marianne Parra, who shared Indigenous perspectives on stewardship and the cultural significance of the wetlands 🌱

Together with our partners at the City of Oxnard Public Works, Oxnard City Corps, and Coastal Keepers, we also brought students, families, and community members together for stewardship events that included habitat restoration, trash removal, wildlife observation, and caring for this special ecosystem 🐦🧤🌱

🌊 Happy World Oceans Day! 🌊 Today, we celebrate our one interconnected ocean, the heart of our planet!

The ocean produces much of the oxygen we breathe, regulates our climate, supports numerous species, and sustains communities around the world, and is also threatened by human activities such as pollution, destruction of habitats, and overfishing 🐟

As an ocean-focused organization, the MERITO Foundation would like to highlight the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 “Life Below Water:” Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Every choice we make, from the products we use to the way we care for our local environment, can help protect our ocean for future generations!

How can you make a difference?
- Reduce single-use plastics and choose reusable alternatives
- Join a local beach or community cleanup
- Support sustainable seafood choices
- Learn, educate, and advocate for ocean conservation in your community

This World Oceans Day, we invite you to reflect on your connection to the ocean and commit to one action to help protect it! 🙌

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-takes-aim-at-crucial-ocean-monitoring-network/

Trump administration takes aim at crucial ocean monitoring network The Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade

🏆 Congratulations to Cassimira and Jazelle from Fremont Academy Middle School for winning 1st place in the Water Conservation Tier of our 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge! Guided by their teacher, Mrs.Shannon Todd, Cassimira and Jazelle were awarded $750 prize for their project, “Water you doing wasting Water?”.

💦 The "Confident Cousins", Cassimira and Jazelle, hope to reduce water usage on their school campus by 50% by installing pedal flush toilets. These new toilets would be installed at Fremont Academy's new school campus, and use almost half as less water than regular toilets. While the upfront costs for these new toilets may be a fright, the group determined that the reduced water usage would make up the toilet costs in just under 3 years. The group planned to share this proposal with their principal and eventually the school board, in hopes of not just saving costs at school but saving water in their community.

🏅 The 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge Awards took place on May 18, 2026, at Poinsettia Pavilion and is the culmination of our V-RAN and SPW! programs. The 2026 EECCOA Challenge, the climate, energy, & sustainability education, school campuses’ energy, water, waste, and heat audits, and students’ workforce development by the MERITO Foundation team, preceding the Awards event are possible primarily thanks to the sponsorship from Clean Power Alliance and Calpine Solutions, with additional support from The Port of Hueneme and California Natural Resources Agency.

Last Saturday, Mar Vista Elementary families and friends came together for an incredible wetland cleanup at Ormond Beach in Oxnard! 🌿

With a great turnout from the South Oxnard community, volunteers rolled up their sleeves to help restore this important habitat by removing invasive plants 🌱, planting native vegetation and seeds 🌼, picking up loads of trash 🗑️, and leaving the wetlands cleaner than when we first arrived! Guests also enjoyed some birdwatching! 🐦

A special thank you to 5th-grade teacher Mrs. Alcaraz for coordinating with her school and helping make this event possible through our Youth Education & Engagement at Ormond Beach (YE&EO) program 🙌 We are also grateful to our partners at the City of Oxnard, City Corps, and Coastal Keepers for their support and collaboration in creating meaningful opportunities for families 🩵

The ‘Youth Education & Engagement at Ormond Beach,’ project is an initiative of the City of Oxnard, funded through a California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) grant.

🏆 Congratulations to Everest, Celeste, Saily, and Kayla from Santa Clara High School for winning 1st place in the Waste Reduction tier of our 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge! Guided by their teacher, Mr. Kevin Mancilla, Everest, Celeste, Saily, and Kayla were awarded a $850 prize for their project, “Containers for Change”.

♻️ Their project aims to reduce the plastic and metal waste created by their school by 24% by next year. While performing a waste audit, they noted a lack of recycling bins on campus, only finding 2 bins across the entire school. The group hopes to increase recycling awareness by involving the school's Clean & Green club to sort waste, installing more recycling bins, and educating their classmates through spirit days & posters around campus. The Clean & Green club will also track the recyclables collected to assess the impact of their campaigning, and the funds created by turning in the waste will feed back into the Eco Saints' initiative.

🏅 The 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge Awards took place on May 18, 2026, at Poinsettia Pavilion and is the culmination of our V-RAN and SPW! programs. The 2026 EECCOA Challenge, the climate, energy, & sustainability education, school campuses’ energy, water, waste, and heat audits, and students’ workforce development by the MERITO Foundation team, preceding the Awards event are possible primarily thanks to the sponsorship from Clean Power Alliance and Calpine Solutions, with additional support from The Port of Hueneme and California Natural Resources Agency.

At El Camino Jr. High in Santa Maria, nearly every student faces significant barriers to accessing hands-on science education. Yet despite these challenges, their amazing science teacher, Marie Chavis, created an Ocean Club at her school two years ago 🌊

Thanks to the support of Mr. Rojas, a kind donor of the MERITO Foundation, we were able to provide Ms. Chavis with teacher professional development training and take her Ocean Club students on unforgettable coastal science adventures! In February, students traveled to Shell Beach in Northern Santa Barbara County to monitor the rocky intertidal zone and collect real scientific data for NOAA’s LiMPETS monitoring program 🐚

And this week, these same students were off Pismo Pier collecting and identifying plankton species and monitoring sandy beaches! 🌊

For many students, these experiences were completely new, from visiting the beach to becoming community scientists for the day. Their excitement and curiosity for learning said it all 🙌

EECCOA Challenge 1st Place: Environmental Outreach Tier 🏆☀️
Congratulations to Victoria, Jacqueline, and Yeraldine from Santa Paula High School for winning 1st place in the Environmental Outreach Tier of our 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge! Guided by their teacher, Mrs. Barbara Weiser, Victoria, Jacqueline, and Yeraldine were awarded a $850 prize for their project, “Under the Sails.”

The group planned on reducing the impact of extreme heat on their campus by installing a shade canopy over the blacktop area outside their band room. They conducted a heat audit around different areas of campus using a Kestrel temperature testing device and conducted a heat impact survey of 57 students. Their survey assessed students on their personal experience with heat at different locations at school and informed their decision to choose the band area for shade coverage. Over 90% of their surveyed students believed it was important to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on campus. In addition to a 30X20 ft shade canopy near the band area, they are proposing to school administrators the reopening of an area with grass and trees to allow student access to more shaded locations on campus.

The 11th Annual EECCOA Challenge Awards took place on May 18, 2026, at Poinsettia Pavilion and is the culmination of our V-RAN and SPW! programs. The 2026 EECCOA Challenge, the climate, energy, & sustainability education, school campuses’ energy, water, waste, and heat audits, and students’ workforce development by the MERITO Foundation team, preceding the Awards event are possible primarily thanks to the sponsorship from Clean Power Alliance and Calpine Solutions, with additional support from The Port of Hueneme and California Natural Resources Agency.