This summer, the Alaska Sea Grant partnered with Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area (KMTA NHA) and the Ocean Alaska Science and Learning Center (OASLC) to offer an educational and exploratory camp for Southcentral Alaskan middle school-aged youth in the towns of Seward, Valdez, and Whittier. Coastal Connections Camp (CCC) connected youth to the environment through art, science, and exploratory hands-on experiences; to each other through teambuilding activities and challenges; and even to themselves through conversations about emotional awareness and personal resilience. The goal of this camp isn’t to see who can learn the most or memorize the most scientific information in a week; it’s to provide experiences that have the potential to be life-changing moments. Within Seward, there were three four-day-long sessions of Coastal Connections Camp, each with unique lessons and opportunities for the students. As the OASLC’s Education, Science Communication, and Media intern through the Student Conservation Association (SCA), I had the privilege to help co-lead these sessions and help connect Alaskan youth to the world and to themselves.
During week one, our Rivers and Forests theme, which took place June 10 through 13, the weather was absolutely stunning. Because of this, we made it our goal to spend as much quality time outdoors as we could. Some of the highlights of this week included performing several stream studies in local waterways where we found macroinvertebrates and discussing how they were indicators of water quality, hiking to Tonsina beach where students learned about local flora, exploring the area, and participating in a team building activity of fort-building using natural materials, venturing over to the small boat harbor fish preparation stations where we observed, learned about, and participated in the processing and preparation of sockeye salmon which was later smoked and handed out for taste testing, and last but not least, paddle-boarding and kayaking on Kenai Lake. Some other important activities included within the week involved discussing and acknowledging some of the different types of emotions (both those that are good and those that are difficult) that the students may or will be experiencing, spending time connecting to nature by intentionally connecting to/utilizing our senses (hearing, smell, sight, etc.), and following a source of water from mountain stream to estuary. Though the week held its fair share of physical and emotional challenges for both students and leaders, we all persevered and had a successful and fulfilling week of camp. Some personal lessons I learned during this week include that I do not have the balance necessary to successfully stand or even kneel on a paddleboard without risk of toppling over, and what is considered to be “flat land” here for Alaskans is not equivalent to what a born-and-raised Midwesterner would say flat land equates to.
For our second week of camp, which took place July 8 through 11, we hosted our Just for Girls week. Originally thinking that we were due for a week full of rain, we were extremely pleased when we received a week full of cloudy, yet dry weather. Some of the amazing experiences and activities we packed into this week included hiking a portion of Lost Lake Trail where we listened to bird calls and conducted a wildflower biodiversity survey with Sadie Ulman (KEFJ wildlife ecologist), taking a yoga class at Seward Yoga, learning about beach stewardship at Fourth of July Beach where we donned our gloves and picked up trash, joining forces with Anna from Trout Unlimited to learn about the protection and conservation of trout and salmon populations as well as learn how to fly fish on Kenai Lake, participating in several sound mapping activities at different locations throughout the area so we could better connect to the world/environment through our sense of hearing, completing several art activities including water marbling and watercolor painting, and discussing our individual sources of strength so that we can better understand, recognize, and identify what things in our lives we can lean into when we are going through difficult times. For me, one of the highlights of the week was taking a water taxi out to Aialik Bay. On the ride, we sailed out near Cape Resurrection, where we saw a large collection of animals, including sea stars, moon jellies, a kittiwake colony (with kittiwake chicks present), sea otters, and sea lions. When we arrived in Aialik, we unloaded onto a rocky beach, where we saw a black bear, and steadily kayaked out to Aialik Glacier. For lunch that day, we rafted up in the water and ate our sandwiches while curious seals popped up around us. The day ended with us having the opportunity to observe humpback bubblenet feeding out near Chiswell Islands. Throughout the week, the girls showcased their musical abilities while belting out their favorite songs on the car and boat rides. They truly embraced their inner artists!
Our third, and final, week of camp had the theme of Oceans and Coasts and took place July 22 through 25. We were blessed with another stunning week of weather! Because of the sunny, clear skies and the week’s theme, we spent a lot of time exploring and learning about local beaches and their intertidal zones. During the week, we traveled to Lowell Point, Afognak, and Fourth of July Beaches, where we performed biodiversity surveys and listened closely to the world around us in order to create sound maps. Our lessons about personal resilience this week included conversations about our nervous systems and how our bodies correlate with the positive and difficult emotions we may be feeling. To connect our emotions and bodies/nervous system, we walked through several grounding activities, such as the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique that pushes us to intentionally pay attention to our senses to feel like we are in better control of our thoughts and emotions, as well as feel more connected to where we are physically in space. Several of the highlights this week included building and testing underwater ROV’s (remotely operated vehicles), participating in a “Kids Don’t Float” program at the Seward High School pool where the students learned about different types of life jackets, how to swim in layers of clothing, how to re-enter a canoe from the water, what to do in the event a kayak/canoe fills up or sinks, and how to help others using rescue floats. We finished off the week by taking a water taxi out to Caines Head, where we learned about the site’s history, placed signs to help visitors be more informed/aware about what historical buildings they are looking at, and hiked up to and explored Fort McGilvray, which was abandoned after World War II. The students enjoyed exploring the sparsely illuminated fort using flashlights and headlamps, singing and humming in order to let their voices flow through the abandoned, yet echoing space, and taking turns scaring each other. Our day out at Caines Head ended with a warm dinner consisting of spaghetti and garlic bread, and a nice toasty campfire that, of course, was paired with s’mores! Once we returned and hopped into the KMTA van to begin our journey from Miller’s Landing back to the education tent, the kids serenaded us with their carefully curated playlist consisting of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,”” The Wheels on the Bus,” “Baby Shark,” and of course, “Last Christmas.”
Though I am feeling the effects of physical and mental fatigue after these three weeks of camp, I would not trade this experience for anything! These children and this camp have taught me so many amazing lessons that I will take with me both into my personal and professional life.
-Ella Swick
Hi everyone! My name is Ella Swick, and I am the Ocean Alaska Science and Learning Center’s Education, Science Communication, and Media intern through the Student Conservation Association. I had the privilege of partnering with KMTA to help co-lead Coastal Connections Camp in Seward. I am so excited that I get to share this wonderful camp and my personal experience with all of you.
I was born and raised in a small town surrounded by cornfields in the middle of Illinois, so moving to and spending a few months in a small Alaskan coastal town surrounded by mountains has definitely been a nice change of pace. Last year, I graduated from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology, specifically with the sequences of zoology and conservation. For the first year and a half of my college career, and for most of my childhood, I thought that I wanted to become a teacher. I ended up changing my original major, but my love for education and for reaching the next generation has not faded. Through this internship with the OASLC and my partnership with KMTA, I was able to merge my love for the environment and my passion for education together. I was also able to learn that I don’t have to choose between education, environmentalism, and art. I can tap into all of these passions and fuse them together in truly influential ways.