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Maya the Mermaid — or in bi-pedal form, Angela Zumwalt — reads aloud from “The Mermaid and the Shoe” by K.G. Campbell to a group of children during her story time event at Wonder World Cave and Park's 2019 Earth Day celebration. Daily Record file photo

Mermaid Society SMTX

Raising a new generation of river guardians
Sunday, August 18, 2019

Living in a town that is defined by the body of water that runs through it can be a double-edged sword. The San Marcos River is a 75-mile-long stretch of bluegreen, spring-fed waters that is the lifeblood of the local tourism industry and home to numerous threatened and endangered flora and fauna.

But how do you engage younger generations to go further than just enjoying the recreation the river provides and actually protect it? The Mermaid Society’s answer is you give them the education and motivation via mascot and role model, Maya the Mermaid.

In 2017, Mermaid Society launched their youth initiatives with the SPLASH Patch Program and Mermaid Chats. Both programs aim to raise the next generation of San Marcans to become river guardians.

A proud group of SPLASH Patch recipients stands in front of Spring Lake, the headwaters of the San Marcos River.

In 2017, Maya the Mermaid — or in her bi-pedal form Angela Zumwalt — started traveling to schools, camps, youth organizations and summer programs to teach children the importance of river conservation and the list of endangered species that inhabit the San Marcos River through Mermaid Chats. That same year, the Mermaid Society also started working in collaboration with Girl Scout troop leaders in the surrounding area to launch the SPLASH Patch Program — SPLASH meaning Stewardship, Preservation, Local, Arts, Sustainability and Heritage — that aims to inspire youth to be community stewards and river guardians. But this year and next, according to Mermaid Society SMTX founder July Moreno, is the year of growing the next generation.

“We’re really cutting our teeth on our youth programming this year,” Moreno said. “In 2017, we kicked off the program and we were working with Girl Scout troops for our SPLASH Patch Program; in 2018 and early 2019 we hit the schools; and now moving forward into 2020, we’re really shaping it because we’re going to have grant money from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.”

Maya the Mermaid answers questions for a class during a Mermaid Chat.

In 2017, Mermaid Society in collaboration with The Meadows Center for Water and The Environment was awarded a grant from the TCEQ in the tune of $53,000 to support and grow the youth programming. And the Mermaid Society is expecting the funding to finally be awarded this fall.

“This will allow us to further develop our programming and actually start to invest in materials for presentations. It’s becoming very real,” Moreno said.

Mermaid Society will be working with WaterPR, a water-savvy communication strategist company, to develop their materials for Mermaid Chats and the SPLASH Patch Program. They are looking at also hiring staffing for the youth programming, to make it an integral part of the Mermaid Society platform.

“That is the future,” Moreno said. “We want to invest every part of what we can possibly, by fundraising or otherwise, to have adequate staffing for our youth programming.”

Their first fundraising project are vouchers that can be purchased starting now from area stores and shops in increments of $3, $5 and $10, and all of the proceeds go toward the Mermaid Society’s youth programming. Vouchers are also available through the Mermaid Society’s website under the “donate” section, where money can be specified to go towards the youth programming.

Maya and students imitate a blind salamander during a Mermaid Chat at Travis Elementary. Submitted photo

In May of this year, the Mermaid Society embarked on their Super Hero Tour, with Maya the Mermaid visiting all kindergarten through second-grade students in the San Marcos Consolidated ISD and giving students a Mermaid Chat. In addition to presenting Mermaid Chats to all kindergarten through second-grade students, Mermaid Society offered third-grade students at Travis Elementary and Girls Scouts of Central Texas the opportunity to receive their SPLASH Patches. But Moreno said they want to do more with their youth programming.

“What keeps us from doing this program at all schools and grades is we don’t have enough manpower — or mermaid power — to reach all of them,” Moreno said. “So that’s our goal.”

Moreno said, they are also looking at developing STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — programming in collaboration with Texas State University to add to their SPLASH Patch Program.

“That will be the official format of our programming when it’s all done. It’ll be STEAM-based starting in fall,” she said.

Moreno said, their role at Mermaid Society isn’t to be the scientist though; they are here to be the social arm, the community arm of river protection.

“We are not the scientists. We are not the official spokesperson of the river,” Moreno said. “We are the social arm. We are the community arm. And what we aim to do is expand the audience, grow the interest. That's our role. That's why we’ve got a mermaid talking. So our job, as we see it, is to connect.

“Not everyone is going to be diving in the river pulling trash out — like me I have a terrible phobia of snakes, so that’s never going to be me,” Moreno said. “But we still need people like me to care — to do things like contribute money, to give awareness to those people and those organizations. There are so many different things people can do to be a part of this and that’s what this platform is for is to bring those people in. I think that we have an incredible opportunity in San Marcos to cultivate, to celebrate the unique river culture we have here.”

And cultivation for river culture and river guardianship, according to Moreno, doesn’t just start with protecting the river for the next generation, it also starts by motivating and educating the next generation to do their part as well.

“Our children are the future. They are the ones that will inherit it,” Moreno said. “It’s not for me or us, it’s for everybody and that means the future generations. We need to see it as everybody's responsibility and that means teaching kids that it’s theirs to protect too. There is an opportunity here to educate our kids on some of the precious and unique resources they have right in their backyard in San Marcos...It’s in our backyard and we have that opportunity.”

For more information on how to get involved or donate to the Mermaid Society's youth programming initiatives go to Mermaid Society' website

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666