nearly 1,000 middle school students got a chance to become Marine scientists for a day as part of clean ocean actions 26th annual Summit in Sandy Hook the summit included six different Hands-On stations and 11 field activities including lessons on everything from horseshoe crabs to ocean pollution the unique field trip is designed to provide middle school students who come from different areas of the state with an opportunity to experience Hands-On Marine Environmental Education at the Jersey door staff and students I spoke with say the goal is to inspire future Marine scientists so the first me thing about them is they have been on the planet for over 450 million years nearly 1,000 middle school students grades 5th through 8th from 32 different schools got a unique lesson in marine life at the 36th annual clean ocean action spring student Summit the two-day free Summit that focuses on the importance of environmental preservation took place at the Gateway National recreational area in Sandy Hook so so they're going to be going out onto field trips by uh professional field trip leaders from organizations like the American literal society and other organizations and then they're going to be um so that's going to be part of their day and then the other half of their day are going to be these round taes where they get lessons on how to be good stewards of the environment that they're learning about today kids definitely learn more than they did before um some of these kids have never even SE seen uh horse crabs before so it was pretty cool to watch them feel them and everything the summit included six different Hands-On stations and 11 field activities including lessons on ocean pollution and how to properly handle different species I'm also really passionate about terrains and um I enjoy working with them and I'm excited to teach uh kids about terrains and other species here on Sandy Hook we get middle school students out to the beach to learn from experts and you know the people that do this stuff for a living and really connect with these marine-based lessons we also have high school students from the Marine Academy of Science and Technology Mast which is out here on Sandy Hook and these high school students come and also teach lessons which is so great to kind of pass on the ripple effect of environmental advocacy and Inspire students that are not too far an age from them and this is our sein I named him Spike and he had a rough day because a starfish tried to eat him we go to school out here so there's a lot of opportunities for us to be like in the environment so on the beach on the boat like obviously we're in Sandy Hook there a bunch of trails so it's really important we learned to like really appreciate it as our four years went by and in addition to education the workshops also provided exposure especially to students who attend inner city schools so for us it took us about an hour to get here and you know just the change of scenery just the change of environment and you know they weren't experiencing we were up there and it was warm and down here it's windy and cold so it's definitely a great experience where they get to see some of the high schoolers that are here and they're on their way into high school they can see what their future paths are they can maybe see what they were not even thinking of as a career path this is like a great experience for me and my peers because since we're not really close to all this stuff I feel like this is like a one in the lifetime chance I think the most interesting thing that I heard is that how horseshoe crabs used as a bait and how they're really their numbers are really going down and how they're harm this to humans staff says the goal is to inspire future Marine scientists the spring Summit focuses on districts in Northern and central New Jersey the next Summit will happen in fall on Island Beach State Park and focuses on the southern part of the state and Kate May [Music]