DOHA: Over the Eid Al Adha break, High School students and staff from the American School of Doha (ASD) carried on ASD’s tradition of service by participating in numerous international service trips.
ASD’s annual conservation strand service trip returned to the Maldives to support research efforts in Whale Shark conservation, working with scientists from the British NGO, the Maldives Whale Shark
Research Programme (MWSRP). Thirteen students led by High School teachers Lisa Bastedo, Pam Keigley and Doug Loomer spent the week snorkeling in the water, shadowing whale sharks to document their markings to identify and census them in the waters off South Ari Atoll.
This data is being collected to help evaluate conservation efforts of the marine protected area off South Ari, set up to better manage conservation and tourism activities involving whale sharks, currently a species that has “threatened” status under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). ASD has partnered yearly with the MWSRP since 2010.
ASD continued its support for Habitat for Humanity, sending 29 students under the leadership of ASD teachers Tim Coble, Camille Brown, Diane Caristo, Kathy Almeer and Mary Houston to build two houses in Chiang Mai, Thailand for families in need. Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to providing affordable housing, built by volunteers, in the developing world. Habitat at ASD started as a student initiated project when Tala Abujbara, then an ASD student, started the ASD chapter of Habitat for Humanity in 2009 and interest in the project remains strong.
Organizers said that all of the trips were a great success and are a cornerstone of ASD’s mission to educate positive, global, active citizens.
The Peninsula
