March 3rd through the 6th, 33 seventh graders from West Bainbridge Middle School attended SEACAMP at Newfound Harbor Marine Institute in Big Pine Key, FL. This is the sixth year in a row that students from WBMS have attended.

To be eligible, students had to be passing all classes and have a good disciplinary record. Since this trip isn't funded, students were able to help earn their money by participating in two dinner fundraisers in October and November of 2008.

Seacamp is located in a secluded harbor in the beautiful Florida Keys, where students discover the wonders of the sea and immerse themselves in a hands-on educational adventure so unique that they'll remember it for the rest of their lives.

The "classroom" consists of coral reefs, mangrove islands, seagrass communities, and tidal pools.  Each year, more than 225 school groups attend this facility, receiving an educational experience that's impossible to get in the classroom at school.

The students participated in activities such as: snorkeling in the Atlantic from research vessels known as "flattops", wading to mangrove islands, using specimen collecting gear during a night wade, dissecting squid, collecting sea organisms from algae, and swimming in a small, salt-water pond with bonnethead sharks, nurse sharks, snapper, and lobsters.  Students leave with an appreciation of the interdependence of all living things and the lessons learned about conservation are critical to future generations.

Seacamp Association, Inc., a private non-profit organization, established the Newfound Harbor Marine Institution program in 1970 to give students an active, hands-on opportunity to learn more about the marine world.  More than 175,000 students have logged more than one million hours on and about the waters surrounding SeaCamp without a serious accident. 

Although WBMS will be closing its doors as all 7th and 8th graders merge together to create Bainbridge Middle School for the upcoming school year,  it is planned for this trip to be taken again next spring.