Next Generation School/Pachico Project

In 2011, Four Osprey partnered with Next Generation School of Champaign, Illinois in an educational collaboration focusing on whales and their habitats prior to Founder and CEO Rebecca McBride’s trip to Pachico’s EcoTour Camp in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California, Sur, home to the first friendly whale encounter. Prior to the trip, Rebecca visited classrooms at Next Generation School to explore these topics, while a school-wide whale-themed art project saw the creation of beautiful works of art followed by public art shows in an area restaurant and the school’s gym.

Rebecca traveled to San Ignacio Lagoon where she presented a gift from the schoolchildren—a collaborative, multi-grade level painting—to Francisco “Pachico” Mayoral, the Mexican fisherman who was first approached by a gray whale in 1972 and was inspired to create Pachico’s EcoTours to educate people about the plight of gray whales and their habitats. Upon returning home, Rebecca presented a video of her San Ignacio experience at an all-school assembly.