Ocean Week 2021

Ocean Week was held from 29 November to 2 December 2021 and was the first major environmental education event of the academic year. It was organized by Sha Tin College’s resident sustainability group the STC Environmental Council, led by Mr. Chiu and Y12 student leaders Kadence Wong, Gina Lee, Sophie Kok, and Allison Wan, to educate students about the importance of ocean conservation with an emphasis on endangered sea animals, as well as raising awareness about the severity of the ongoing climate crisis. “I thought that [educating students on ocean conservation] was a nice gesture,” said Jed Li (11D2) who found the event “pretty cool” since he had an interest in animals.

The main theme of the week was Ocean conservation, which can be defined as ‘the protection of marine species and ecosystems in oceans and seas worldwide. This is related to the UN’s sustainable development goal 14 ‘Life Below Water’, which aims to ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development’.

A wide variety of interactive and engaging events were held throughout the 4-day event including the screening of a documentary in the hall on Chinese white dolphins during both middle and senior school break times, a whole school treasure hunt testing students’ knowledge on ocean conservation, as well as an ocean-themed giant Jenga in the school playground which was a student favorite!

There are around over 500 species of sharks, but “only 12 species are protected by law”, stated Andrea Richey, the executive director of the Hong Kong Shark Foundation who gave students a talk about the dangers faced by sharks and what we can do to help save sharks. She added that the most simple way to save sharks is to “just say no to shark fin soup” as “when we stop the buying, we stop the killing”. Richey encouraged students to sign a petition to stop Tao Heung restaurant group from selling shark fin soup in their restaurants as well as becoming “Shark Ambassadors”.

Ocean week proved to be a truly meaningful educational experience for the STC community. There are sure to be more exciting environmental-related activities later in the year!

Written by: Raphael Lee 

Edited by: Edward Zhang