Chargers Install Turtle Raft at Kelly Lake Park
Source/Author: Krish Patel ‘22
August 19, 2021
This summer, the Shorecrest chapter of the Business Professionals of America completed a group service project. The team built a turtle raft at Kelly Lake Park.
The Chargers were actually at the park to clear away trash, when the Vice President of the Harris Park Neighborhood Association introduced herself. She commended the group for cleaning the park, which “received no attention in the past and fell into neglect.”
Then she asked if it was possible for them to build a turtle raft. She explained that the turtle population had been dwindling because of the absence of a platform for turtles to climb up on and sun themselves. Did you know such basking behavior is an important part of reptile maintenance of higher preferred temperatures that they cannot attain by physiological means? This allows them to digest their food quicker and grow faster. There is also the benefit of drying the skin and removal of external growths of algae and possibly even leeches and other parasites.
“We agreed to build the turtle raft as it would greatly benefit the local ecosystem.” Krish Patel ‘22 shared. “Michael Canizares ‘22, Luke Olson ‘22, Duncan Walsh ‘22, Braeden Wright ‘22, and I undertook a day-long mission to build the raft. We went to Home Depot and used our own funds to buy the materials which included PVC pipes, glue, foam noodles, and so on.”
The Club members were able to build and deliver a wonderful, anchored turtle raft. The Association thanked them on Facebook and shared photos of the installation.
