Alpena, MI (June 2025) —A third grader crouches beside a tank, steadying the controls of an underwater robot he helped build with his classmates. As it dips beneath the surface, he guides it through a simulated mission – focused, confident, completely immersed. In that moment, he isn’t struggling to sit still or catch up on reading – he’s a navigator, a problem-solver, a leader.

“That’s what drives me,” says Daniel Moffatt, Stewardship & Education Specialist at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. “Watching a kid suddenly light up because he’s building something, doing something, solving something. You know you’re witnessing transformation.”

In Northeast Michigan, that transformation is happening every day. With support from a three-year grant from the Walters Family Foundation, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary has created immersive, hands-on education programs that ignite curiosity and deepen young people’s relationship with the Great Lakes.

At the heart of this work is the award-winning 3rd Grade Get Into Your Sanctuary program. Over four dynamic sessions, students explore Michigan’s maritime history, pilot remotely operated underwater vehicles and travel aboard a glass-bottom boat over shipwrecks in Lake Huron. For many, it’s the first time they’ve ever been on the lake, let alone thought about protecting it.

The results speak volumes. Teachers call it one of the most hands-on and aligned field trips of their careers. Students who once shrugged off history now call it “awesome.” One third grader told his teacher: “This was better than recess!”

And the impact doesn’t end when school lets out. Through Summer in the Sanctuary, the team brings that same energy and magic to life through camps and outdoor excursions that are all about exploring, curiosity and hands-on learning. “First, you make it fun,” Moffatt says. “Then you make it immersive. That’s when it really clicks.”

One cornerstone of the summer programming is a multi-day nature camp at Camp Chickagami, tucked along the Lake Huron shoreline in Presque Isle. There, students from Alpena, Lenawee, and Benton Harbor Boys & Girls Clubs can experience what Moffatt calls “a whole world of firsts” – hiking along coastal trails, rockhounding, paddling canoes and snorkeling. They also take part in real environmental science, joining NOAA’s Marine Debris Monitoring Project at North Point.

“We had kids tell us it was their first time swimming in a lake,” says Moffatt. “First time on a boat. First time seeing the Great Lakes. And these are Michigan kids. That’s how you know these experiences matter.” When asked how being outside made them feel, campers answered with powerful words: happy, peaceful, alive, at home.

The sanctuary also welcomed students from Detroit’s DBG for a whirlwind 36-hour adventure – snorkeling in the Marine Tech Training Tank, piloting underwater robots and exploring the shoreline’s ecosystems. Two students were so inspired, they returned home and submitted a short film about their experience to the Thunder Bay International Film Festival.

In total, these programs have reached over 10,000 youth and delivered more than 700 hours of environmental education in just three years. But the numbers are just the beginning. The real impact lies in what these experiences unlock: curiosity, confidence and a sense of belonging to something bigger.

“People value what they understand, and will protect what they value” Moffatt says. “And when a kid paddles a canoe for the first time or stands at the edge of Lake Huron and takes it all in, something clicks. They realize it’s theirs to care for. That’s where stewardship begins.”