The students and the sea – an ever growing love story

ABU DHABI: Swim for Clean Seas, the environmental initiative, is launching a new school ambassadorship programme, together with The Yas SeaWorld Research & Rescue Center, the largest integrated research, rescue, rehabilitation, and return facility in the MENA region, and main event sponsor, Abu Dhabi-based luxury boutique real estate company, Rex Real Estate.

Launched in 2018 by siblings Felicia and Almer Agmyren, both keen open-water swimmers, Swim for Clean Seas aims to raise awareness about ocean pollution by engaging the community in fun, interactive activities and encouraging them to take a swim in the gorgeous blue waters surrounding the beautiful coastline and islands of Abu Dhabi.

This year the awareness building is moving to the capital city’s classrooms, with the launch of an exciting new school ambassadorship programme, designed to teach a selection of nominated students about the importance of keeping our seas clean and healthy – and passing their new-found knowledge onto their friends, family and everyone around them.

Felicia Agmyren, co-founder of Swim for Clean Seas and managing partner of Rex Real Estate, says: “We are inviting all schools to nominate two or three students between the ages of 10-14 to become our first cohort of Swim for Clean Seas School Ambassadors. The programme is a chance for young people to gain better knowledge of the need to protect our oceans, the problems associated with plastic in our oceans, and what each and every one of us can do to stop the ever-rising tide of ocean pollution. We believe if the young ones come home with knowledge taught in school to the family households it will help drive and implement sustainable and collective change faster and positively impact the community as a whole.”

Emphasising the need for collaboration in promoting conservation, Dr Elise Marquis, Director of the Yas SeaWorld Research & Rescue Center, says: “Partnering with Swim for Clean Seas on this initiative that blends enjoyment with education provides an ideal platform to raise awareness about the importance of taking care of our ocean. We are very excited to engage the youth of Abu Dhabi in a creative journey to investigate the impacts of plastic consumption. By engaging the next generation, we aim to foster a greater sense of environmental consciousness.”

The first wave of the programme – entitled ‘Plastic Asking’ – is a new experiential way to learn about plastics and the journey these items take around the world’s seas.

Developed in collaboration with the Yas SeaWorld Research & Rescue Center, the experience comprises three workshops, taking place on February 16, 23 and March 1, 2024, followed by a grand reveal of their work at the 2024 Swim for Clean Seas event set to take place on April 20, 2024.

The format of the three-hour workshop series is as follows:

The first workshop involves a ‘discovery’ field trip on the water front, including a beach clean-up, highlighting the different kinds of plastic.

The next workshop will investigate the journey, the process, and the reasons for the creation of selected plastics, as well as discussions about the science and human behaviour.

The third workshop involves developing a creative outcome – this might be a song, sculpture, poem or maths demonstration of the carbon emissions of the selected plastic.

This will help the ambassadors frame their knowledge creatively, highlighting the human behaviours that lead to the use of plastic and its journey to polluting our oceans.

The student’s creative outputs will be presented at the annual Abu Dhabi Swim for Clean Seas on April 20, 2024, which includes talks from leading local and international environmentalists, alongside the fun and inclusive swimming event.