In 2015, the English Language Learners School of Cabo Verde (ELLCV) was founded. In 2022, Zita Vieira, founder and CEO of ELLCV, visited the United States to work together with the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center, the Pedro Pires Institute for Cape Verdean Studies at Bridgewater State University, and the Falmouth Public Schools (FPS) on Cape Cod, Massachusetts to establish a sister school connection between the ELLCV and the Falmouth schools. 

In October 2024, a small group of elementary educators, administrators, and School Committee members traveled to Praia, Cabo Verde, to visit the school and engage in a shared learning experience. This team presented ELLCV with two drifters from Educational Passages. The drifters are outfitted with GPS monitoring equipment, so students at ELLCV and in Falmouth can share the data to monitor ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Falmouth Public Schools has experimented for several years with both mini boats and drifters in the ocean waters around Cape Cod and is excited to share this experience with the senior students at ELLCV. The two drifters were launched on October 25, 2024 by Zita and her students. FPS and ELLCV will compare the current data from the mini boats and drifters launched off of Cape Cod with the drifters launched from Cabo Verde to learn more about the differences in ocean currents.

Both Cape Cod and Cabo Verde have populations of sea turtles native to their coastlines, and these turtles are affected differently in both places. While sea turtles experience warm weather year round in Cabo Verde, they often become cold-stunned off of Cape Cod when the ocean waters cool quickly in the fall and winter. We are excited to share this learning experience and grow the connections between our students.