Science is how we understand Nature. Art gives it a voice.

I believe caring for something begins with knowing it. So I designed and illustrated this guide, which we turned into a booklet for the children and families who came to the community events at the California Academy of Sciences, in partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation. Made to travel home, the Passage stays with them, and they leave knowing simple ways to help protect the ocean we share.

My hope is simple: that a child who learns to love these waters will grow up wanting to protect them. That is the purpose of this work, not only to share the Verde Island Passage, but to plant care in the next generation, so it takes root and grows.

I often think about what lasts. Support in this moment matters, but my hope reaches further, to the children who will inherit these waters, and the generations who will carry these stories long after us. That is why I pour into new eyes, and especially the next generation, and why I bring this work to wider places, so that more people come to know and love the Verde Island Passage.

Being recently named the California Academy of Sciences' 2027 Osher Fellow, this is only the beginning. What started with a small community in the Philippines is now reaching toward an international stage. When the next generation learns to care, the work outlives all of us.

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