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SEA SEMESTER
SEA (Science, Education, and Awareness) Semester brings underserved youth in City Heights together with mentors for a unique educational experience. The program targets middle school students who are facing challenges in school and at home. Their high school mentors are students who demonstrate high levels of achievement, and a desire to help others. The mentors provide positive examples for the younger students by exhibiting good work-study habits, strong character, and willingness to take on responsibility. The mentors benefit from the program by developing teaching, leadership, and scientific skills.
In each semester, the students meet four days per week
to study the intricacies of the California kelp forest; from the life
cycles
of invertebrates, to the
ways humans can negatively impact this important habitat. The course
of study is very hands on; students are taught how to sample and
collect
data, run
experiments, and dissect marine animals.
In addition, they
participate in current research
at the university level.
After exploring basic concepts in the lab, the students and their mentors head out into the field for scientific investigations. Saturdays are spent exploring San Diego’s diverse aquatic environments – a new experience for most of the students. Few have ever been on a boat, and most don’t know how to swim. Through SEA Semester these students learn to swim, snorkel and dive through the kelp forest to experience the natural habitats they first explored in the lab. The program ends with a trip to the Wrigley Marine Science Institute on Catalina Island, where each student can demonstrate their new expertise.