Classroom on the Sand with NSU University School

On October 13, 2026, the International SeaKeepers Society hosted a Classroom on the Sand with 10 students and 1 educator from the Nova Southeastern University School, or NSU, at Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Dania Beach, Florida. To start our day, SeaKeepers Educational Manager Jack led a discussion about the park and how to practice safe ecological behaviors such as fishing, ecotourism, and snorkeling such that key habitats are preserved. Today, our team was located directly next to the most trafficked fishing jetty in the entire park, so discussing safe fishing became one of the most apt topics we learned about with our students. Following a discussion on these behaviors as well as general coastal ecology of key habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrasses which are all affected by these human behaviors, our team took the students for a short coastal cleanup around the park area. Our students made their way down to the edge of the jetty where a massive clump of sargassum and mangrove seeds had collected tons of plastic trash. After just 45 minutes, our students managed to remove more than 31 pounds of trash from the park’s parking lots, surrounding dunes, and the beachhead by the jetty. Returning to our pavilion, our students took a quick break for lunch while we did a breakdown discussing the most common types of trash we encountered and hypothesized what animals are most affected by each based on where they were found. We finished our day with a final activity about these animals called Creatures from the Beach, where students learned to group animals into key groups like fish, mammals, and invertebrates as well as learn what key traits distinguish each. We had a fantastic day working with the students of NSU University School, and we look forward to working with them again soon!