© Ocean Summit / Annabel Kroening
Ocean Youngsters
Ocean Youngsters turns young people in Kiel into ocean ambassadors
As a marine conservation city, Kiel has set itself the goal of bringing marine conservation into all areas of life - including education. This is exactly where the Ocean Youngsters project, founded in 2023, comes in: We don't just want to impart knowledge, but above all generate enthusiasm for marine conservation and turn schoolchildren into active shapers of the oceans.
Training young ocean ambassadors
The project focuses on training so-called ocean makers at schools. In 3-day camps, the young people deal intensively with the challenges of marine protection – from plastic pollution to ocean acidification. This is not just about theoretical knowledge, but about concrete action: The young ocean ambassadors develop their own projects, actions and campaigns with which they sensitize their schools, families and their environment for the protection of the oceans.
This can result in ideas such as plastic-free school events, information campaigns to protect the Baltic Sea or joint collection campaigns on beaches. The aim is to integrate marine protection into everyday school life and give pupils the opportunity to take responsibility themselves.
Kiel schools on the way to becoming Blue Schools
But that's not all: together with committed teachers and school administrators, we are working on making Kiel schools European Blue Schools. This award is more than just a title - it is a visible sign that marine protection has become part of the school culture. Blue Schools are committed to regularly implementing educational programs on the topics of the oceans, climate and sustainability and to promoting projects that protect the sea.
This firmly anchors marine protection in schools and makes it effective in the long term – an important step towards Kiel living up to its responsibility as a marine protection city.
Working together to make Kiel a model city for education and marine protection
With Ocean Youngsters, we want to show that Marine protection starts right on our doorstep. By training pupils to become ocean ambassadors and accompanying Kiel schools on their way to becoming Blue Schools, we are taking joint steps towards anchoring the topic of marine protection in schools.
In this way, Kiel will not only be perceived as a port city, but also as a city that actively demonstrates how marine protection can become part of everyday life – starting in the classroom.
Take part: how it works
We are looking for secondary schools to take part! We look forward to hearing from you at kontakt (at) ocean-youngsters.de .
The project is sponsored by Bingo!
© Ocean Youngsters
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