Floating Classrooms with Blue Scholars Initiative and St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School

Overview

On May 15th and 16th, 2025, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with Blue Scholars to host two floating classroom experiences with 39 students and 6 educators from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School aboard Biscayne National Park Institute’s educational vessel in south Biscayne Bay. On both days, we started our day by meeting the students and educators at Dinner Key Marina before heading to a picnic island while discussing Biscayne Bay’s ecology, unique marine habitats, and pollution dynamics. Upon arriving at Dinner Key Picnic Island, students split into groups for two separate activities, including a seagrass walk using hand nets to sample biodiversity of the island as well as using our Earth Echo Kits to study and test the water quality of our Bay. Students had the chance to see some of our amazing native animals that call our seagrass meadows home such as crabs, shrimp, marine snails, and even some sea stars and a checkered pufferfish. To conclude our days, we discussed water quality parameters and what makes Biscayne Bay so special as an ecosystem as we returned to dock. We give a huge thanks to our partners at Blue Scholars Initiative and Biscayne National Park Institute and to the students and educators of St. Stephen’s for their hard work, and we hope to see them for future SeaKeepers events!