Behind Every Impactful NOAA Ocean Guardian School Project is an Ocean Guardian Teacher
By: Alyssa Leadingham
May 5, 2026
For National Teacher Appreciation Day, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries would like to honor all of the dedicated educators who lead ocean stewardship efforts across the country.
The NOAA Ocean Guardian School program supports PreK-12 public and private schools nationwide who wish to establish conservation projects on campus or in their community—protecting watersheds and special areas like national marine sanctuaries. As part of this national initiative, teachers serve as campus leaders in enacting year-long stewardship projects in one of the program's five pathways: school gardens/habitats, marine debris, watershed restoration, energy and ocean health, and “the six Rs” (Rethink/Reduce/Refuse/Reuse/Recycle/Rot).
We recently touched base to learn more from a few of the enthusiastic teachers making an impact by leading NOAA Ocean Guardian School projects on their campus or in their classroom, and asked them to share some personal experiences and insights. Read their stories below:
Catherine Walker: Dimond High School (Anchorage, Alaska)
Tell us about your school and the students you teach.
Dimond High is a large urban public school serving students from a wide range of backgrounds. Over 100 languages are spoken by students and their families in our district! The students I teach are passionate about protecting the environment, and the ocean in particular. They love completing yearly beach cleanups, weekly recycling, campus cleanups, and taking care of our classroom coral tank.
What is a standout moment or activity from your participation as a NOAA Ocean Guardian School?
Our remote beach cleanups, along with our collaboration with Alaska Plastic Recovery to turn our marine debris into GrizzlyWood are the highlights of our five years as NOAA Ocean Guardians. Dimond students have collected 1,542 pounds of marine debris from remote beaches out of Whittier so far.
What have your students taught you in return through this work?
My students have taught me that we should have hope for the future because they are creative, resilient, brilliant, and passionate about making positive change and protecting marine organisms. The future is in good hands!
Valerie Randall: Chimacum Elementary School (Chimacum, Washington)
What makes your community or classroom unique?
Nestled at the convergence of two rural valleys and the Salish Sea (Puget Sound) our storied community has lived through various eras of fishing, mining, forestry, and agriculture. Chimacum, the village and the school district, take their name from the Chemakum People, a non-federally recognized Tribe of First Peoples, ancient displaced relatives of the Pacific Coastal Quileute First People.
As a garden educator, my outdoor "classroom" spans four school garden sites and the restoration of the adjacent Chimacum Creek. We aim to provide students with a sense of this particular place, as well as their own place within the cycles of nature. Through hands-on activities, students explore core curriculum concepts that bring them from their mind into their body in ways that promote self-confidence and thoughtful teamwork. These activities help students experience the untouchable peace that only nature and stewardship can provide.
Why does this work matter to you personally—as an educator and as someone helping students connect with the ocean, watersheds, or their local environment?
It's an honor to know that I am offering subtle but lasting and meaningful shifts in perspective, which lead to shifts in behavior, design, and society as a whole. Because I have the privilege of working with children as they grow in skill and awareness year after year, I see these shifts taking place in real (slow) time: their relationships with spiders, weeds, and food; their ideas about what it means to be a farmer and do dirty work; their habits regarding food waste, plastics, and water usage.
Jacqui Stanley: Yorkshire Academy (Houston, Texas)
Tell us about your school and the students you teach.
Yorkshire Academy is a small international K–5 school. My students come from Houston and from all over the world. My school is unique not just because it is small, but because of the school management that has supported all aspects of ocean education.
Yorkshire has participated as a NOAA Ocean Guardian School since 2019. We graduated from the program in 2024, but we remain very connected to the program, especially our closest marine sanctuary: Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. We are all incredibly proud of the five NOAA Ocean Guardian banners at our school.
What has been your favorite Ocean Guardian School project?
In 2021 our project focused on density separators. Students learned about microplastics, microbeads, and nurdles (small plastic pellets). Students visited Moody Gardens Aquarium where they saw a large working density separator. After evaluating existing microplastic extraction devices, students were tasked with engineering a device that was easy to use, portable, and cost effective. Fourth grade students became the educators, and they created labs to teach the fifth-grade engineers the best methods to design the prototypes. In preparation for the project, students analyzed water from washing machines, tap water, water samples from the Gulf, and water from our school's filtered water source. They found plastics in all samples.
Why does this work matter?
I love to teach and I love to open my students' minds to our blue planet and encourage them to understand that they are stakeholders in our National Marine Sanctuary System and that they play a role in stewardship of these special places. When students wanted to find a good replacement for latex and Mylar balloons, they made eco-poms, bluebonnet gardens, and origami stars. They sold their eco-friendly celebration products at a school fair, and they donated their profits to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
Jade Giotta: Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary (Santa Cruz, California)
Can you tell us a little about your school and the students you teach?
Santa Cruz Gardens is a public school nestled on a hillside adjacent to the oak woodlands and redwoods of Santa Cruz. I've worked at this magical school for eight years. One of its defining characteristics is that our school is small. With only about 220 students, we very much feel like a family.
I teach life sciences through our Living Classroom enrichment program, which is a component of our school's Science and Gardening Emphasis program. This is a science enrichment class where I see each class once or twice a week and we explore disciplinary core ideas of the Next Generation Science Standards. We have grown from one educational garden on site to seven. Spotting classes learning outside regularly in these outdoor garden spaces feels unique and special.
What is one Ocean Guardian School activity from recent years that stands out to you, and why?
Recently students have been learning deeply about California native plants—how they support watershed health and their past and present Indigenous uses. Watching students learn these plants initially through deep and protracted observation, has been immensely rewarding. This uncommon intimate environmental literacy where students can differentiate a flowering currant leaf from a western redbud has truly moved me. I believe it simply provides hope and evidence that the nature deficit can be solved—humans are so resilient after all!
What have your students taught you in return through this work?
When my students are inspired, it reignites my passion for nature stewardship. Their unbridled excitement reminds me to look closer, even if I've seen a roly-poly a million times, and to look again. My students teach me daily how to find awe in the familiar and see something ordinary as suddenly new.
Stacey Klimkosky: Truro Central School (Truro, Massachusetts)
Can you tell us a little about your school and the students you teach?
Truro Central School is a PK-6 school in Truro, Mass. which is on the outer reach of Cape Cod. Our town is boarded on the west by Cape Cod Bay and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the town is within the boundaries of Cape Cod National Seashore, and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is located just a few miles north of the tip of Cape Cod. We currently have 78 students. In addition to being a NOAA Ocean Guardian School over the past three years, we also work with other organizations who focus efforts on ocean stewardship including Cape Cod National Seashore, Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, and Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.
Why does this work matter to you?
As a coastal community, our students grow up breathing the salt air and are connected to the ocean in ways both seen and unseen. It's important to me, and our entire staff, that our students have as many ocean stewardship experiences as possible. Their families are fishers and shellfishers, or are connected to the ocean in some way. I was a NOAA Teacher at Sea back in 2009 working with hydrographers in Alaska on NOAA Ship Rainier, but long before that experience, I've been an advocate of ocean education since I was a child. Growing up, I spent my summers exploring Cape Cod National Seashore and educating myself through reading and ranger-led programs.
What have your students taught you in return through this work?
My students have taught me that teaching—especially about ocean stewardship—is worth it. Working toward a healthier ocean sometimes feels as vast as the sea itself, but the enthusiasm of kids to learn and share with others is invigorating. Their excitement, wonder, questions, and desire to learn together make this work so fun.
Interested in becoming a NOAA Ocean Guardian School Teacher?
The 2026–2027 application is now available to download from the NOAA Ocean Guardian School website. Applications are due by July 1, 2026. Please review the NOAA Ocean Guardian School Program Guidelines and Requirements for more detailed information about the program prior to submitting an application.
Alyssa Leadingham is the national program coordinator for NOAA Ocean Guardian School program
Rachel Plunkett is the content manager and senior writer/editor for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries