[Jody Lust] So this beach used to be covered with ice plant
but it's an invasive here and it took over
and we saw our habitat disappear.
We saw our snowy plovers disappear,
we saw our bush bunnies and our burrowing owls disappear.
And the beach suffered from great erosion and floods
and sand was carried away from this habitat.
This is my classroom, third grade students from Gault
that are part of a five year legacy
when we have claimed this beach, this habitat,
as part of our community
and we are connected to it and we're practicing stewardship today.
[Seaberry Nachbar] The NOAA Ocean Guardian School Program is really an opportunity
to have kids out in the environment doing hands-on projects
that are really stewardship-based. So the kids are learning by doing.
Working with their hands and conserving our beautiful area
like this, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
One of the projects that we're looking at right now
is the kids are actually planting native dune plants,
restoring a beach dune system that was degraded with invasive plants,
and they're taking the time to learn why they're doing this.
We're teaching kids that through doing these conservation projects
and the stewardship projects, they're actually helping to protect the ocean.
[Gianna] My name is Gianna and I'm an Ocean Guardian
and why I love being an Ocean Guardian is
because I really like saving sea animals
but what I don't like is if there's a bunch of plastic
that's not what I like to see.
[Seaberry Nachbar]: This is a great example of really connecting kids
and showing them that by doing and by creating opportunities for them
to actually get into their own community and restoring degraded dune systems,
that they can help protect our natural resources and our sanctuary resources.
These kids right here, these kids, are actually protecting
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary resources.
[Student's voice] So we came from Gault School so we could do this
[Student #1] We're just planting native plants and taking out the ice plant
[Student #2] The ice plant doesn't really have any nutrients for other plants.
It's pulling all the water out.
[Seaberry Nachbar] A local community partner that actually works all up and down the
coast here in California, that really helps support the school
in terms of the science behind it is Groundswell.
[Bill Henry]: Getting kids involved in changing their environment for the better is,
there's never been a more important time.
I mean we are facing changes on a global scale at an unprecedented rate
and so involving students in even small changes gets them in that mindset
that they can make a change
and then having that connection,
that sense of place, having that place-based awareness to their backyard
I think making that connection is very important.
[Seaberry Nachbar] One of our partner organizations that we're working with
and we really couldn't run the program without their support is
the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
We've been partnering with them to look to expand this program
because right now we are limited in some of the areas that we can serve
and working with the foundation in close partnership,
they are helping to support us to expand it nationwide.
We'd love to see this program into more schools, into more regions, into more states across our country.
[Lolita Kiorpes] My greatest hopes for the Ocean Guardian students is that they have a happy life,
that they're successful, that they do something that they enjoy,
and that they take away the opportunities that they've had with the program,
that they never forget it.
[Isabelle] When we went to Mallows Bay there wasn't too much trash there
and we were admiring it because a lot of places that we go
there's a lot of trash everywhere.
I did get to go to the County Commissioners' office
and speak so that they might be able to make a law to ban plastic straws in restaurants.
That was pretty cool because I'm just in fifth grade
and I get to do that. I might be making a law so that would be cool.
[Jody Lust] They're working together for one cause and it's bigger than just themselves
and so they're connecting to things that are important
and it has relevance and it has meaning for them
and they're seeing that education goes outside the classroom
and it can be fun to learn and to get ideas and then to make something happen.
We're grateful to Ocean Guardian for being the leaders
and teaching people that you don't have to wait for someone else to create change.
They gave us the platform, the opportunity, and it's been an awesome experience.
[Stephan] I've certainly learned a lot more and have a lot more, just, focus.
I mean I just love this program because it has really really stoked her interest in the environment
as well as the sciences and it's just been a wonderful thing.
[Seaberry Nachbar] I think we're changing kids' lives.
They want to know how to fix this environment.
They hear the stories and they want to know how they can change it
and we're giving these kids an opportunity to have their environmental voice.
[Maya] I hope that the ocean can get cleaner
and I hope that from our class doing it
that other people realize how important it is
and I hope that other people will become Ocean Guardians too.
[Seaberry Nachbar] One of the greatest things about this program
is that we're always trying to make the link between education and resource protection.
And this program has really done that.
We're seeing now that with the hard work of kids
and getting them involved and the continued work that they are able to provide
that we're seeing these native dune ecosystems return to their natural habitat.
And because of that we have two threatened and endangered species
that have returned to these ecosystems,
the snowy plover and the burrowing owl,
and this is first time that we've actually been able to
link an education program with actually protecting the environment.
So we're seeing it. These kids are doing it.
[Students] We are Ocean Guardians!