Guardians of the Gulf
Our Mission
Our STEAM program leverages the power of real-time, multisensory tools to introduce youth to interconnectivity of our natural environment, empower them to realize what’s at stake, and inspire them toward action. Their future, and Florida’s, depend upon it.
We will leverage the power of technology to take youth where they can’t normally go, and combine web-based educational experiences (e.g., gamified learning journeys) with hands-on activities, field trip excursions, and simple but powerful action projects designed to reinforce concepts, stimulate inquiry, and sustain engagement.
Primary Objectives:
- To provide a fun educational experience around coastal resiliency, research, and stewardship for participants, ages 7-13.
- To build a multisensory STEAM program in St. Petersburg, FL about coastal and human resiliency that scales to other user groups and communities around the state of Florida and beyond.
- To introduce youth to the upside of climate and coastal change: the suite of upcoming and future STEAM-related jobs and innovative technologies that will meet the needs of our changing environment that they can pursue.
Our long-term goal is to build a connected community of Guardians of the Gulf across the state of Florida, and beyond. Guardians of the Gulf takes a foundational step as the beginning of a pipeline of programs needed to meaningfully engage with underserved communities about climate change and coastal resiliency. These grand challenges we all face – bigger storms, intense heat, sunny day flooding — are no longer projections. They are here, and they demand diverse perspectives, participatory action-planning, and innovative solutions. Our goal is not perfection; it is engagement, interest, and action.