Each year, Great Valley Academy sixth grade students participiate in the overnight Camp SEA Lab field trip. Affiliated with California State University, Monterey Bay, Camp SEA Lab offers high quality, affordable environmental education programs within the Monterey Bay area for grades k-12 from local communities and beyond.
Camp SEA Lab fosters lifelong excitement, scientific understanding, and stewardship of our coasts and ocean by providing quality marine oriented programs that promote Science, Education and Adventure for youth, families and teachers.
Camp SEA Lab is dedicated to helping children explore the wonders of the marine environment from the top of the watershed to the bottom of the deep sea as they gain a greater appreciation for what science can teach them about our world and the importance of being good stewards for the ocean.
Program Objectives
Hands-on Education: Get out, on and in the waters around the central coast! Youth are encouraged to dive into learning in the interactive “classroom” of our natural environment.
Stewardship & Conservation: Children gain knowledge and insight on how to preserve and protect the marine environment unique to the Monterey Bay.
Emphasis in Career Development: Participants learn the many avenues that can lead them into a life with marine science, including the education and experience necessary to help them succeed!
Innovative Technology: Camp SEA Lab partners with innovative research institutions and uses cutting edge technology such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV's) to provide youth a close up look at the undiscovered regions throughout the bay.
Support Diversity: Participants represent a broad diversity of backgrounds and experiences. The program is designed to serve all youth regardless of ethnic or socio-economic background.
History
In 1997, a group of local teachers, scientists and resource managers got together and expressed their concern over the lack of ocean science education in our schools. They then began to develop a plan to create a youth residential marine science program that would address this need and capitalize on the unique natural and institutional resources of Monterey Bay.
This plan was strengthened from the start by broad-based local input and seed funding from the Packard Foundation, California Sea Grant and the California Coastal Commission. With this community driven vision, dedicated partnerships and unique opportunities, Camp SEA Lab was born and offered its first programs in the summer of 2000.
Today, Camp SEA Lab operates through California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) as a program of the Division of Science and Environmental Policy, and has close partnerships to several Monterey Bay area science institutions. Camp SEA Lab is additionally supported by Friends of Camp SEA Lab, a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization comprised of a Board of Trustees from the local community and collaborating institutions.
Retrieved from www.campsealab.org
