The five day training workshop is a collaborative effort between the Belize Foundation for Conservation (BFC) based at the Chaa Creek Natural History Centre, the State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY-Cortland), and the Belize Ministry of Education. Since the institute’s beginning in 2003, over 90 Belizean teachers have benefited from the training.

Children of Belize and the U.S. joined hands across nations to give a voice to a “down on his luck” real-life Belizean jaguar, whose world was forever changed as people came to share his land. The resulting book, Pat the (Great) Cat: A Jaguar’s Journey, has made the students published authors and advocates, and their teachers are taking note!