Floating Classroom with Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative

On February 17th, 2026, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted 15 executives from Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative for a Floating Classroom experience onboard DISCOVERY Vessel River Queen. Departing from FIU’s Biscayne Bay campus into the beautiful bay water, our participants listened to a quick safety briefing from our vessel Captain JD before diving into South Florida ecology. After previous morning discussions our group encountered with the University of Miami and Miami-Dade County officials, we continued with the importance of seagrass meadows, coral reefs, mangroves and more. Through brief encounters with dolphins and a manatee our group delved into questions on marine mammal recognition, waterway dredging, boat regulations, and specifically water quality. Our Educational team wrapped up with our Earth Echo water quality testing kits to visually display their knowledge and questions, measuring key parameters such as temperature, pH, and turbidity. Our team was presently surprised to see continued strong dissolved oxygen levels given the recent temperature rise in South Florida. We wanted to give a huge thank you to Harvard Advanced for a stimulating afternoon and hope to collaborate again soon!