ExxonMobil and Watersong Wild Space welcomed their fourth cohort of students for the 2026 Conservation Job Corps.

In early June, the monthlong, hands-on educational program began, giving students with interests in biology, medicine, life sciences and environmental stewardship opportunities to work directly in conservation settings before they enter college.

In addition to working at Watersong, Midland students traveled across Texas to study different ecosystems and conservation programs. One of the highlights of this year's program was a visit to the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures petrochemical complex in Corpus Christi, a joint venture of ExxonMobil and SABIC.

Watersong operations director Candice Hart said the student program has found a balance between conservation work, classroom time and field visits.

"I would say we have a system down now that we are comfortable with that we have kind of implemented over the past two years," she said. "The (educational) program is a balance between conservation work, classroom time, and field visits, and we are happy with what that recipe is."

Watersong director Wes Faris described the visit to the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to advancing the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf.

"At the beginning of that trip, like we have the past four years, we take the students to visit the Harte Research Institute in Corpus, where they get to visit with the marine biologist, the master scientists and researchers to hear all different aspects of the conservation work that they are doing in the Gulf, as well as the environmental concerns," said Faris. "One of them (concerns) being plastics."

Additionally, students toured the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures petrochemical complex in Corpus Christi where they spoke with environmental engineers about nurdles. A nurdle is a tiny plastic pellet that serves as the raw material for manufacturing almost all plastic products.

"Once the plastic pellets get out into the water, they are considered nurdles," Hart explained. "They (the facility) have a man whose entire job is doing nurdle patrol or organizing this citizen science and conservation program called Nurdle Patrol. It was cool to go onto the flip side of that and visit a manufacturer and see where the pellets are being manufactured and to see what manufacturers are doing to prevent the plastics from being dumped in the Gulf."

Faris and Hart said the program is expected to expand next year.

"We have done a great job having students from Midland in the program over the last four years," Faris said. "We really do want to make this a Permian Basin program. So one of our objectives going into next year is expanding our outreach into Ector County and Greenwood."

At the end of this year's program, Faris recalled, students were broken into groups of two and were all assigned a specific ecosystem region within the state of Texas.

"We put on a synopsis at the end of the program where we had representatives from ExxonMobil, representatives from ConocoPhillips and some board members," Faris explained. "We all gathered at Midland Shared Spaces, and the students gave about a 10- to 15-minute presentation in front of everybody about the specific ecoregions that they were assigned and studied, specifically the ecosystem itself, the pros, what challenges the ecosystem faces, and then what other potential opportunities from a career standpoint that these particular regions have to offer."

Mia Frost, a student leader with the program, emphasized the uniqueness of the Watersong natural space in Midland and the importance of conservation.

"When we visited The Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi, I had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with scientists working at the facility to preserve our oceans," she wrote. "I learned more about efforts to protect coastal bird species, tag sharks, and even recover oyster populations. Their work is key to helping us develop a better understanding of the natural world and how we must preserve it from harm. This experience opened my eyes and made me realize how much of a future in science there is for me. I found myself more curious about the topic than I ever had before."

Camila Bustillos of the Young Women's Leadership Academy said the experience helped her learn more about the importance of environmental protection, how to safely use tools and equipment, and how to work effectively as a team.

"The most memorable aspect of my experience was the hands-on conservation work we did in the Butterfly Meadow," Bustillos wrote of the experience. "It made me better understand just how invasive plants, like Bermuda grass, can be and how hard it is to get rid of weeds. Making an impact at the preserve is important and made me appreciate our work even more."

Emily Stephens, of YWLA, also expressed her appreciation for the program.

"This opportunity helps to show that there are more pathways and opportunities in the natural world than students would expect and opens a whole hall of doors for students to explore," she said. "The combination of working outside to working together in the classroom helped build a sense of connection and group collaboration. The trips really helped to strengthen that bond and make us feel honored to be a part of the Job Corps."

Applications for the next Watersong cohort will open in early spring. For more information about the nonprofit and to find more educational programs, visit watersong.org.

© 2026 the Midland Reporter-Telegram (Midland, Texas). Visit www.mywesttexas.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.