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Student to put Ningaloo on world stage

Tom ZaunmayrPilbara News
Paris Menner, Exmouth District High School Principal Ray Denholm and science teacher Susie Bedford.
Camera IconParis Menner, Exmouth District High School Principal Ray Denholm and science teacher Susie Bedford. Credit: Pilbara News

An Exmouth District High School student will go on the trip of a lifetime to New York next month to represent Ningaloo Marine Park at a world marine park conference.

Paris Menner will address the United Nations’ Ocean Conference alongside 32 peers from around the world on the importance of protecting the Ningaloo Reef.

Paris said it was a privilege to be selected to represent the community on the world stage.

“I will be telling the conference how amazing our reefs are here, how close it is and how we need to protect all the species,” she said.

“I just think science is a really interesting subject — there is so much to explore and learn.

“It will be interesting to see what the other marine World Heritage sites have to offer and meeting everyone who was lucky enough to have been chosen.”

Joining Paris on the trip will be science teacher Susie Bedford.

Ms Bedford said the school’s relationships with organisations such as the Department of Parks and Wildlife, BHP, the CSIRO and EcoOcean helped show students the importance of science in the real world.

“I think making those links to the natural environment is incredibly important and we’ve been able to do that in so many different ways,” she said. “It just makes the class so much more alive than if we were only doing stuff out of the textbook.

“It really is a big event and is about getting these young people together to pledge their support for protecting oceans for the future.” Exmouth District High School principal Ray Denholm said despite its remote location, the school wanted to match its metro counterparts in providing opportunities to its students.

“It is not only important that Paris has the opportunity to go to a UNESCO conference, but also the interaction with the different World Heritage-listed marine sites and the close interaction with the Great Barrier Reef and Lord Howe Island representatives,” he said.

Mr Denholm said DPaW, the Ningaloo Outlook Project and Mrs Mac’s Shed had all helped get Paris to New York.

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