2025-26 Junior SeaKeepers Program Orientation

On Thursday, October 16th 2025, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted our orientation and inaugural webinar for the 2025-26 Junior SeaKeepers Program! We welcomed 17 high school students from schools all over Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, along with their family members, to Miami Yacht Club to join us for our opening webinar with Miami Waterkeeper and program orientation for our next cohort of participants. To start the evening, students checked in and met the SeaKeepers Educational Outreach and Community Engagement Team which will serve as leaders and mentors for the program. Our JSKs heard from our Community Engagement Manager, Lillian, and our Educational Outreach Manager, Jack, for an opening presentation detailing program requirements, expectations, and other details for promoting a successful extracurricular experience as a Junior SeaKeeper. After concluding the orientation portion of our evening, Miami Waterkeeper’s Educational Outreach Team presented our first “webinar” of this year’s program, which trained participants in the Waterkeeper “1000 Eyes on the Water” program for observing and reporting pollution events. We were so thrilled to have MWK deliver this first webinar, as it truly sets the stage for the program in teaching participants the importance of keeping our Bay and other waterways clean, as well as encouraging them to be a part of the solution to pollution in South Florida and beyond. Throughout the academic year, we will build off of this webinar knowledge through coastal cleanups, floating classrooms, workshops, and our final research projects, which will aim to engage students in understanding and proposing solutions to local and global marine conservation problems.

We are so thrilled to welcome this year’s cohort of Junior SeaKeepers and cannot wait to see how they grow as ocean conservation advocates and young scientists as a part of our year-long program. Welcome 2025-26 Junior SeaKeepers!