Jess Newley is an environmental educator with a Master’s from Western Washington University. She has a passion for underwater photography and videography and is using her talents and a 360 camera to create a virtual reality education program in order to immerse students in the underwater world of the nearshore waters around the San Juan Islands of Washington.

Jess discusses how her work for a non-profit called Friends of the San Juans in Washington State led her to develop a virtual reality school program that takes students underwater. To do this she ueses a 360 video camera. As the Marine Science Coordinator for Friends of the San Juans, Jess spends her days doing field science, such as forage fish beach surveys, boater education to protect the eelgrass beds around the islands, and advocacy work for the Salish Sea and the islands (forage fish, salmon and orca). Jess also talks about the story of how she got to be doing this work and her photography.