Project Overview:
History
TOTCUS (The Ocean that Connects Us) was established with the ambition to be a Pacific wide initiative. The project has grown out of a pilot project (TOTCUS - Chile / New Zealand) established in May 2022, and drawing inspiration from a similar project called Winds of Change. (https://cape.org.nz/winds-of-change-latam/).
Our TOTCUS pilot brought together a cohort of thirty-five high school age students (Kiwis, Chilean and other Latin Americans) who attend Liceo Juan Bautista Contardi (Punta Arenas, Chile) and Rosmini College (Auckland, New Zealand). These students worked together to examine the effects of climate change on their environment.
In May 2023, the Kiwi-Chilean students were joined by students from South Korea, Marshall Islands, Hawaii to share progress reports. In late November/December 2023 we held our first TOTCUS SYMPOSIUM adding Peru, Washington State, India, Finland and Singapore (see the SHARE page on the navigation bar above and scroll down to SYMPOSIUM). All presentations have been posted there, including the link to the Symposium videos.
TOTCUS has continued to grow in 2024 with (in August) over 250 students collaborating.
A second SYMPOSIUM was held again in late November/early December 2024. We are anticipating continued growth of the project, and a pleasing shift to ACTION focused projects.
We will have a focus on adding students from other Pacific Nations, in particular students attending schools in the Small Island Nations.
About the Project
The students in the TOTCUS project range in age from 11-18 years. The younger students are gaining skills from older students and the older students are developing project management and mentoring skills. All participants make a multi-year commitment to ensure continuity and depth of study.
The focus of this project is for the students to collaborate to gain knowledge and skill, share what they have learned and engage in action. In other words students engaged in TOTCUS WILL develop an understanding of the impact of climate change, collaborate and act to communicate and where possible lessen these impacts. Each collaborating cohort of students chose their groups' focus inquiry question.
The TOTCUS Symbol is the creative work of Ms Ovando.
