Q. How do you virtually teach about native Arizona fishes? We provide in-school “field trips” that include program materials (grade-level student and teacher materials) mailed to team leaders prior to our live, online Sharing Tails presentation. To best fit into busy school schedules, our presentation is split into two sessions, approximately 20-35 minutes each, and scheduled at different times on the same day or on different days. We interact with students as much as possible, giving them the best “live” experience we can as they learn about native Arizona fishes!
Q. Why was Sharing Tails created? After many discussions with Dr. Paul C. Marsh (retired), owner of Marsh & Associates LLC, about how most people in Arizona did not know that there were fishes unique to the state and how most were endangered or threatened, Carol Pacey, MSc decided to take matters into her own hands and she created Sharing Tails.
Q. Why kindergartners? Kindergartners are perfectly suited to receive our program! They are excited about school and learning, and they are quite inquisitive when it comes to something new. We follow kids up as they enter first and second grades to allow our program to build upon the previous year’s information, and grow and change as kids grow and change. When we see kids in first grade, most remember something about our program, and by the time we see them again in second grade, they know Carol as “the Fish Lady” or the “Fish Scientist” and they are excited to see what’s new!
Q. Will Sharing Tails visit any schools that are interested in having the program? Yes! Our focus has been on public (district) elementary schools because that was where we directed our original grant with the Bureau of Reclamation, but now that we create our own funding sources, we visit charter schools, as well as any organization or secondary schools who are interested in our program. We do our best to adapt our information and programming to what interests organizations.
Q. What more is there to know about Sharing Tails? From 2008-2011, Marsh & Associates, LLC presented a free, state-wide, on-site, exciting native Arizona fishes public outreach program Sharing Tails at public (district) elementary schools. We traveled the state teaching kindergarten through second grade students about our native fishes, reaching about 33,000 students which exceeded our goal of 30,000 students. For more about our program, please read our article published in Applied Environmental Education & Communication <here>.
Q. What is the story with Marsh Education? Marsh Education formed in 2013 as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 branch of Marsh & Associates, LLC, but did not begin visiting students again until 2015-2016 school year. Since then and to date, almost 13,000 students received the Sharing Tails program, bringing the total to more than 48,000 students reached since 2008 (updated May 2023*)! THAT’S FIN-TASTIC!!!
*Marsh Education was paused after May 2023, but in January 2025, with new beginnings at Marsh & Associates, LLC, Ms. Pacey dusted off Marsh Education and away she went!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since its founding in 2008, the Native Fish Lab at Marsh & Associates, LLC has been a leader in native Arizona fish work. Previously it was a unit within the Department of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, established in 1980.