City2 Sea California High School Students Excited About Marine Science

The mission of City2 Sea is to educate and expand young inspired minds from the inner-city through hands-on marine science, ocean experiments and environmental awareness.

City2 Sea launched a program in 2003 that brought together the Los Angeles Conservation Corps' Clean & Green Program and the SEA Lab in Redondo Beach, CA to introduce at-risk, 13-17 year old participants in the Greater LA Area, to the beauty and importance of our oceans.

City2 Sea's 1,100 participants collaborated with Heal the Bay from 2003 - 2010 to remove or prevent over 400,000 pounds of trash and garbage from polluting the ocean through neighborhood beautification projects and beach clean-ups.

City2 Sea has also collaborated with COSEE-West/UCLA and the USC Wrigley Marine Science Institute over the last year to increase the impact on participants. Participants in the City2 Sea program are primarily from Title I schools in the Greater Los Angeles Area, with over 93% of the students on a free lunch plan.

The program was piloted with 150 students from two Green Dot Charter schools. The first group of City2 Sea participants, The Marine Biology Club of Animo Leadership Charter High School (Inglewood, CA) consists of mainly Latino students, ages 15-18 that come primarily from low-income, immigrant families living in Lennox, CA.

According to Laura Nunez, 11th grade student at Animo, "Going out to sea was especially important to me because it keeps me connected to a natural world and it continues to motivate me about research opportunities in marine science."

City2 Sea facilitates an interactive, on-the-water learning center that provides youth with first-hand exposure to the ocean while inspiring them to learn about marine science, free of charge.

The program's activities are highly educational and designed to complement academic lessons. City2 Sea actively promotes and strives to increase outcomes of STEM learning and meets the California Core Standards for 9th-12th grade in Biology & Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Physics.

City2 Sea has taken an average of two trips per month with students, guest scientists and educators over the last year. Most of the students participated in multiple trips with an average of 15- 20 students per trip. Following participation in the program, 25% of students expressed an interest in pursuing the sciences.

According to Dave Anderson, 9th Grade Teacher at Animo High School, "The strength of the City2 Sea program is the ability to foster real curiosity through natural, empirical science. Scientific curiosity, above all other factors, is the key to creating young scientists."

For more information, contact John Sakacs, Executive Director, at 310-908-9198 or [email protected] or visit City2 Sea's website: www.city2sea.org.