On Wednesday, October 28th, Save Barnegat Bay launched a brand new education program for students at Beach Haven Elementary School! We’re excited to announce that this program will be available for ALL 4th-8th grade students!

As part of our mission, we devote time to advocacy campaigns centered around local Barnegat Bay issues. This is a great way for students to become more involved and invested in the future of their environment.

Students at Beach Haven Elementary School are designing a “Defenders Badge” so that all Defenders students in Ocean County can wear it proudly during their advocacy work. Our Board of Directors will vote on the best design and present the winning class with a free pizza party in January. Students in 4th-6th grade at the school are then asked to create a campaign in the spring to bring awareness to Barnegat Bay issues. This can be something as simple as coordinating a cleanup of the bay near their school or something a little more in-depth, like writing a letter to a senator.

As participants in the program, students will receive a Defenders Booklet, which outlines information about Barnegat Bay and its watershed as well as provides suggestions for defenders projects.

Our goal for this program is to provide elementary school teachers and middle school social studies teachers with the tools and resources to start after-school Defenders Clubs in their schools. Interested students can join and will receive a badge and booklet from Save Barnegat Bay.

We’d like to give a HUGE Save Barnegat Bay thank you to the students and teachers at Beach Haven School for taking on the challenge of being our pilot school for this program and to the Garden Club of LBI for providing a grant to provide badges and booklets to students.