Grand Case, St. Martin — Over the past year, the all-volunteer association Les Fruits de Mer and Fondation Air France have collaborated on Island of Discovery, an education project that spans both sides of the island. Since July of 2024, the project has distributed over 9,900 books to students on St. Martin and hosted over 500 students at Amuseum Naturalis at The Old House.
“The Island of Discovery project has had a huge reach and impact, and we’re thrilled to celebrate its successful completion!” said Les Fruits de Mer president Jenn Yerkes. “In fact, we were able to distribute even more books and host more class visits to Amuseum Naturalis than we had planned. It’s the biggest transboundary education project that we know of on this island. We are so grateful that Fondation Air France funded this amazing project for the students of St. Martin!”
The goal of the project was to boost education about local nature, heritage and culture for students on both sides of the island.
Books were distributed to every student at all public and subsidized primary and secondary schools on the South side of the island.
Over 2,000 books were also distributed to students on the North side in partnership with many associations. 32 school classes from both sides visited Amuseum Naturalis at The Old House. Over 100 educational banners were distributed to schools.
“In addition to giving books and hosting class visits, we published three books about local nature as part of this project,” added project manager Mark Yokoyama. “We produced the bilingual Wild Things! Activity Book, which we give away to students when they come to the Amuseum. We also released new English and French editions of the full-color Wild Things! companion book.”
The Les Fruits de Mer association has distributed books to students on the North side of St. Martin for several years.
2024-2025 was the first school year the association has done wide-scale book distribution on the South side of the island, made possible by this funding from Fondation Air France.
The program has received very positive feedback from teachers, students and parents on both sides of the island.
The association has published over 50 books about St. Martin nature, heritage, and culture. They include oral histories, and works created in partnership with Lasana M. Sekou, Lady Ruby Bute, and the Soualiwomen Kultural Association. Over the last few years, the Les Fruits de Mer association has distributed over 50,000 of these books for free. It has also offered free class visits to Amuseum Naturalis since 2016.
Since 1992, Fondation Air France has funded close to 1680 projects in 80 countries served by the airline company.
It partners with associations on projects that impact children and youth, with a focus on educational, environmental, and humanitarian projects. The foundation funded the Les Fruits de Mer project Island of Discovery on St. Martin.
