by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM News Monday, April 28, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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George Washington High School marine biology teacher and advisor for Marine Mania, Linda Tatreau says the club first began in 1992 under the name "Explore Guam". Over the years and several name changes ever, the Maniacs continue to be active not only in their school, but throughout the entire island community. "They want to promote marine awareness and they want to protect the environment," said Tatreau.

She added, "On Fridays after school we do recycling. We have about 50 recycle bins located at every trash can around campus. We're collecting aluminum cans, plastic bottles and then we also do paper recycling."

About 20 students make up the heart of the Maniacs - marine biology students also help out with the various projects the group is involved with, like this past weekend's Island Pride Festival. Tatreau says over time Marine Mania has planted over 18,000 trees in the southern hills of Guam to help prevent erosion. They also monitor sea turtles, which Maniac Angie Todd says is one of her favorite activities, saying, "You get a mixture of Marine Mania and marine biology class. You all go on the hikes and you're all just bonding. It's just nice, but sometimes strenuous, and really, really fun to look for turtle tracks."

Marine Mania president Ashley Martinez says during an average week they help keep GW's Mangilao campus clean and pickup trash in the street in front of their school. But it's not all work for the Maniacs, as snorkeling, boating trips and occasionally SCUBA diving gets them into the water. "A lot of things in the environment impact people directly, like the drinking water and the trash," Martinez explained. "A lot of things can be harmful like PCBs in the fish, so it's important for us to make other people environmentally aware of what's impacting them."