SEA Annual Summer Education Program

Our SEA Creatures summer education program was a huge success this year! The program consisted of 30 visits to camps, two public snorkel clinics, and the development of educational materials and activities that can continue to be used beyond this year’s summer programs. Programming ran for six weeks from June 22 to July 29 and during that time, we reached about 455 campers or snorkel clinic attendees. We also had the assistance of 50 adult staff or volunteers.The programs ranged from snorkeling to hiking and bird identification, with the predominate focus being on local conservation efforts and native plants and animals. The most popular program topic was Southgate Coastal Reserve Hike, the next being Native Plants and Animals, and the third most popular being Cultural Arts. The offerings and activities were designed to accommodate the changing COVID-19 health recommendations.

Project leader and SEA Environmental Educator shared these highlights:

• Students at the Dept. of Sports, Park, and Recreation snorkel camp took the initiative to ask if they could do a clean-up on their final snorkel day after talking about conservation and seeing evidence of human impact and pollution in the area. Video of students who led the clean-up charge talking about what they think could make people change their behaviors.
• Upon seeing the bird-viewing hut at the Southgate Coastal Reserve, a student turn to me and said “This is amazing, I thought they only had cool places like this in the States” that student would later ask if anyone could come out to see the salt pond because they wanted to bring their family.
• Many students expressed excitement to continue using SEEK app and iNaturalist at home, and when I arrived at camps for follow up visits, I was always greeted by students telling me what they had ID-ed near they houses since the previous visit!

We are continuing our education programming this year with in-school and afterschool offerings so we can continue to build environmental awareness and our future environmental leaders.

The goal of SEA's summer progam is for participants to have alot of fun exlporing our natural world while also learning to treasure and advocate for protection of the environmental resources that make St. Croix a special place. 

So far this summer we have worked with more than 300 young people, visiting over 7 summer camps.  Among other activities, participants have gone to the Seashell Museum, taken a tour of the Botanical Gardens, conducted flora and fauna scavenger hunts, and gone birding. 

Additionally, participants have learned about some of the environmental issues facing our island.  They assisted in surveying our local community about their concerns.  This year we have had the honor of working with the East End Marine Park, a local biologist who runs the Seashell Museum and local artisans and culture bearers. This summer has been a ton of fun for us all, especially after the year we have had. 

The unfettered joy participants exude at the freedom of exploring nature after over a year of online schooling takes on a heartbreaking tenor when we think about how much we are up against in safeguarding our earth for them, for future generations.  SEA is deeply grateful for your support.  It allows us to provide these experiences of connection for our youth.  We continue to believe that programs like ours grow the environmental stewards we need to protect and preserve St. Croix, indeed our whole earth.