Catching Northern Kingfish was a highlight for NYSG Marine Camp participants in the summer of 2022. Credit: Marissa DeBonis/NYS Parks

Contact:

Antoinette Clemetson, NYSG Marine Fisheries Specialist, E: aoc5@cornell.edu, P: (631) 632-8730

NYSG Marine Camp partnership creates an interactive learning environment for students from underserved and underrepresented communities

Summer is the ideal time to explore marine and coastal wildlife along New York’s coasts. However, students in low income and minority communities with less disposable income are particularly disadvantaged, and they seldom visit public parks.

Beginning in 2016, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) spearheaded a strategic partnership by organizing a summer camp to engage students from underserved communities in marine biology classes. Youth service organizations use this program to plan educational field trips in a fun, summer vacation setting. In 2022, NYSG and partners resumed regular programming by scheduling eight marine camp classes.

This cycle enabled 250 students from seven organizations to return to the classroom, and the field, at the Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center. These numbers included students from two organizations from Glen Cove and West Babylon who attended marine camp for the first time. As in previous years, all participants qualified for field trip grants under the New York State Parks Connect Kids Program, providing approximately $3,500 in transportation cost.

The 2022 marine camp interactive lesson plans involved practicing seining to identify marine wildlife, nature trail hikes, Piping Plover conservation, and on-site interpretive displays describing coastal wildlife and green energy. Exciting and memorable moments from the 2022 summer camp included catching juvenile Northern Kingfish, which is very rare, and meeting a non-venomous Eastern Hognose snake. 

Under NYSG’s novel marine camp program, youth service organizations are able to bring their students on fun and educational field trips during the summer break at a modest cost.

Partners/Co-funders: 

• Cornell Cooperative Extension Nassau County 
• New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation 
• Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.