![\"Callie](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2021\/05\/Veelenturf.jpg\")
<\/a>It\u2019s been a whirlwind, said Veelenturf, a native of Norfolk, Massachusetts, with so much happening so quickly that she can\u2019t quite believe it all.<\/p>\n
At the United Nations in March, she spoke about the role of youth in wildlife conservation, using her own experiences as an example.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke about how it\u2019s our job, as youth, to bring a lack of complacency and a sense of urgency to the table, to raise our voices and be boots-on-the-ground daring to go to remote places to implement conservation strategies,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there could be more connectedness between experienced delegates at the U.N. and youth on the ground executing conservation strategies, our efforts would be more successful in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n
The speaking opportunity arose when Youth for Wildlife Conservation asked her to be an ambassador for the organization and to speak during the U.N.\u2019s World Wildlife Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on my experiences in marine conservation, they felt that what I would have to say would be powerful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The day before she received the invitation to speak at the U.N., Veelenturf got another important email, this one from the National Geographic Society approving her research grant and naming her to the list of the group\u2019s distinguished explorers. The honor includes special grant opportunities, access to National Geographic Society classes, a free remotely-operated underwater vehicle for use in her research, and the chance to have her work featured in National Geographic magazine.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutwardly, it means that National Geographic thinks I\u2019m someone who exemplifies the values of science, investigation and purposeful exploration, with a commitment to share those values with the public,\u201d she said. \u201cIt means the world to me. I grew up with that magazine on my coffee table, so to become part of that community and earn their support is a great honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veelenturf became interested in sea turtle conservation after snorkeling on a coral reef in Hawaii as a high school student. When a large shadow approached, she turned to see a 400-pound green sea turtle swim within a few feet and stare at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked into my eyes \u2013 and into my soul \u2013 and I knew immediately that I wanted to study marine biology and especially sea turtles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her more recent sea turtle work led to her formation of The Leatherback Project, with the objective of conserving leatherback turtles around the globe through community outreach and research. Her first step is to create a photo identification database of the endangered turtles so researchers, fishermen and the public will be able to participate in identifying individual turtles, which will help understand their populations and movements.<\/p>\n
Despite her very busy year, Veelenturf isn\u2019t slowing down. She is traveling to Colombia later this month to participate in a shark tagging research expedition and speak with community leaders about protecting sea turtles on local beaches. Next fall she will begin a five-month project in Panama searching for new sea turtle nesting beaches, investigating fisheries bycatch and the human use of turtles, and working to educate area residents about the threats the turtles face.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow is the time for taking action,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be able to look back and know that I did everything that I could while I had the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 25, 2019 \u2013 Callie Veelenturf has had a remarkable five years since graduating from the 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2014 with a degree in marine biology. She worked in Costa Rica and St. Kitts to protect rare sea turtles, earned a master\u2019s degree at Purdue University while studying the effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-74907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}