About the Program
O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO) was founded in 1996 by wetsuit innovator and surfer Jack O’Neill. A living classroom was created on board a 65-foot catamaran sailing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary where 4th – 6th grade students from schools throughout Central California receive hands-on lessons about the marine habitat and the importance of the relationship between the living sea and the environment. The program is conducted on board the catamaran with follow-up lessons at the shore-side Education Center at the Santa Cruz Harbor. It is free of charge, but students earn their way into the program by designing and performing a project to benefit their community. The curriculum is taught in a stimulating and intimate learning environment, which provides a learning experience that lasts a lifetime. The program’s curriculum is designed to support the educational goals of the school classes that participate. The three subjects taught are marine science, marine and watershed ecology, and navigation/mathematics. O’Neill Sea Odyssey creates a stewardship ethic using a Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards-aligned education program. The program includes three onboard learning stations: navigation, including compasses and triangulation; marine ecology, including the kelp forest, marine mammals, and human impacts on Monterey Bay; and marine biology, specifically examining and learning about plankton. These stations are complemented by three stations at an education center on land: navigation, including reading and plotting navigational charts; marine ecology, covering the water cycle, watersheds, and ocean pollution from land-based activities; and marine biology, where the plankton samples collected on the boat are examined further using microscopes. O'Neill Sea Odyssey has served over 90,000 students since its inception. In 2005 the program received the prestigious California Governor’s award in Economic and Environmental Leadership and in 2005 it received US Senator Barbara Boxer’s Conservation Champion award. Most of OSO’s work involves the core program, which is the one-day field trip supplemented by standards-based marine science curriculum for participating classes use before and after the field trip. In addition, the Adam Webster Memorial Fund, founded by Tom & Judy Webster when their son Adam passed away in 1999, provides the program for cognitively and physically challenged individuals. In August 2009, OSO’s Adam Webster Memorial Fund received the Community Spinners award from the Special Parents Information Network for its work with special needs youth. Other special programs that O’Neill Sea Odyssey has conducted include (1) the week-long San Jose Community Oceanography program which focused on watershed to the sea education for low-income youth, (2) Ocean Scholars, which provides ocean science mentorships for youth served by Familia Center serving low-income Latino families in Santa Cruz County, and (3) Project Discovery that provided an overnight program for Oakland youth at O’Neill Sea Odyssey and Henry Cowell State Park. Executive Director Dan Haifley has presented papers demonstrating the positive, measurable impact of O’Neill Sea Odyssey’s program on disadvantaged youth in the areas of educational achievement and environmental stewardship.
