California State University Channel Islands is implementing a one year Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) for middle and high school students in Ventura County. The project is building and utilizing ongoing interdisciplinary, collaborative projects between CSUCI and NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education Training Program (BWET). The program is supported by collaborating partners such as the Channel Islands Boating Center, Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary (CINMS), the Santa Rosa Island Research Station, and Channel Islands National Park. We are constructing aquatic ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) which will help establish educational curriculum within Oxnard School District in collaboration with OpenROV. This project builds on previous mentoring research in both the formal and informal science education fields. At the university level, successful mentoring programs for minority undergraduate students pursuing natural resource careers have been developed as part of Project ACCESO at CI. It is a goal of ours to spark interest in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields for previously underrepresented students at an early age.

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