Introducing the Gill Guardians Summer Camp

By Jasmin Graham, Safina Center Junior Fellow

This summer Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) will host its first ever Gill Guardians Summer Camp, June 20th-26th, 2022. The camp will be held at Nature Coast Biological Station in Cedar Key, Florida. This will be a free camp for kids ages 13-17. Transportation will be provided for kids in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and a handful of travel awards will be awarded for kids to travel from other cities or states to attend. Participants will learn about marine science and get to do some hands-on science. Activities will include shark dissections, building remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), field surveys (both on the beach and on a boat), fishing and fish sampling techniques and coding as well as introductions to the scientific method, data collection and data analysis. They will have the opportunity to carry out a group project from start to finish and present it to their fellow participants. 

Participants will get to eat, sleep and breathe science while getting familiar with the coastal ecosystems and the outdoors. The goal of this program is to give kids who otherwise wouldn’t have access to these opportunities so we are specifically recruiting students from groups that have historically been excluded from science and access to the ocean as well as kids from underserved communities. Swimming is not required to participate!

Applications will open in January 2022, so be on the lookout on the MISS website, social media and mailing list for more information in the new year.