Ocean Camp, a certified marine and environmental education program, hosted 147 children ages 5 through 13 at Sea, Sand and Stars in Orange Beach during its 2012 summer camp the first three weeks of June. The campers were from local communities, other counties and even from outside the state. The mission of Ocean Camp is to build marine science career interests, respect for our natural world and increase learning venues for our visitors through marine and environmental education.

“We were especially excited to have 14 of the participants choose camp while visiting the Gulf Coast and even several that traveled here just for camp,” said Belinda Ringpfeil, director and educator with Ocean Camp.

Each weekly 4-day session offered a variety of themes to learn of Ocean Animals, Scientists, and Exploration. The fourth session, Coral Reefs—Cities of the Sea took place at Faulkner State Community College Gulf Shores campus, where 11 to 13 year-old-campers designed coral and ocean animals from plastics headed for the recycling center. Their sculptures, titled ‘Amazing but Sad,’ were arranged as a coral reef mural for the college lobby to bring awareness of plastics overuse that has resulted in a garbage patch close to double the size of Texas in our oceans.

Ocean Camp is now scheduling field trips for grades K-12 at Gulf Shores Beach Retreat for the 2012-2013 school year. Plans are made for an after-school enrichment program at Faulkner State, as well as a steering committee to create a Gulf Shores Marine Learning Center as ‘edutainment’ for our visitors on a full-time basis.     

For more information about Ocean Camp or to register a child, contact Belinda Ringpfeil at oceancamp@gmail.com.