At World Ocean Day for Schools, we've built our program around a slightly counterintuitive idea: we don't actually teach kids about the ocean. There are many incredible organisations who do ocean science education far better than we ever could. Our approach is a little different. We're focused on what we believe are the foundations of ocean literacy: a deep connection to the ocean, and a sense of agency. That combination, in our experience, is the catalyst for becoming an effective ocean advocate. We're not asking teachers to become ocean experts. We help them facilitate a connection to their local blue space, and enable young people to recognise the role they can play in ocean advocacy, no matter where they live.
The activities we create tend to be about fostering a relationship with your natural environment, becoming friends with it. Whether that's a sit spot somewhere blue or mapping water memories, we're building connection first. When we first came across the work of Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind, it felt like someone had taken things many of us knew intuitively and explained the science behind them. His work inspired us to expand from an ocean story to a water story, and to create the Our Blue map, something we're forever grateful for.
So here we are in 2026, holding the belief that it's entirely okay to do things differently. Kids and adults alike are bombarded with information. Starting with connection feels like the right thing to do. The magic of World Ocean Day for Schools is that we're a starting point for blue learning, not a big stretch for a teacher, not a hard sell to a headteacher. One day. One assembly. One blue lesson. That's enough to begin.
We're focused on creating the conditions - belonging, self-efficacy, a felt sense of connection, that spark curiosity about the ocean. And once we've done that, we direct teachers and students to the best ocean organisations in the world to go deeper on the subjects that matter to them.
This year, we dove into identity - specifically blue careers. We shared the stories of eight people working in ocean conservation in jobs many kids will never have heard of, through interactive Q&As, activities, and adventures that helped them dream up their own blue future.
On June 8th, we went on a world tour - meeting Edwin the Clean Seas Educator in Liberia, Ricky the Shark Whisperer in the Maldives, Melissa the Blue Fund Finder in Australia, Kate the Nature Artivist in Hawaii, Dana the Ocean Rights Defender in Egypt, Victor the Coral Caretaker in Fiji, Joao the Surfing Kelp Farmer in Portugal, and Naledi the Ocean Friendly Chef in South Africa.
This year we had the pleasure of collaborating with PangeaSeed and Kate Wadsworth to create a piece of artwork that helped us explore the diversity of blue careers with our eight special guests. Two of those eight advocates were SeaTrees partners - and having them in the room made the day something special. Victor Bonito has spent more than twenty years beneath the surface of Fijian waters, discovering new coral species, working with local communities, and showing that the people closest to the reef are the ones best placed to protect it. João Macedo's ocean story started bodysurfing with his grandmother on the Atlantic coast at age seven, and led him to big wave surfing, co-founding the World Surf Reserves movement, and now a regenerative seaweed farm at Nazaré.
Our mission is to show kids the incredible diversity of good blue humans working to protect our ocean - and make them think, wow, that could be me! And when that thought lands in a kid who feels connected to their local blue space, and has a sense that they belong in this story, that's when it sticks.