Student Environmental Advocates & Leaders (SEAL) Program

The SEAL program offers eligible high school students a unique leadership learning experience focused on local environmental issues. SEAL students collaborate with peers across Monmouth County through bi-monthly group training sessions, to learn the basics of community grassroots activism and advocacy, and how it can be achieved in their own schools’ communities. Topics presented in the training sessions, featuring experts in that field, include, but are not limited to: civics and the voting system, environmental justice, water quality, environmental careers, recycling crisis, and watershed mindfulness. Students make connections from the lessons to their local communities and learn to make real change through problem-based learning. In addition, guest speakers, including elected officials, advocates, and activists speak to the students to discuss successful strategies and campaigns to add real world context to the learning.

To add a healthy bit of competition, Clean Ocean Action (COA) use a point-based system to award students for their activities, leadership, collaboration, cohesiveness, stewardship and campaigns. Importantly, SEALs help pass on their leadership and success to the community through presentations and engagement to middle schoolers and town councils.

For a complete description of the SEAL program, click here.

Applications are closed for the 2023-2024 SEAL Program. Please check back June 1st. 

For questions or inquires, please contact the program coordinator, Kristen Grazioso at 732-872-0111 or education@cleanoceanaction.org.

SEAL Projects 2022-2023:

• Aidan McKenna, Red Bank, increasing native plants in Red Bank through distributing educational brochures and seeds.
• Alana Woods, Middletown, educating elementary school students about the importance of recycling with a presentation and activity.
• Alexandra Wassman, Tinton Falls, educating the community at Tinton Falls Earth Day event about accessing information on what can and cannot be recycled. 
• Angelina Vaclavik, Holmdel, helping answer community questions about recycling through distributing an online survey to Beach Sweep attendees. 
• Caleigh Butler, Middletown, increasing the amount of pollinators in the area by installing and educating about Monarch Waystations at a local elementary and high school.
• CJ Volk & Sophie Yockel, Rumson, educating the community on the importance of bats and bat boxes for controlling pests and decreasing dependence on pesticides.
• Christian Sherman, Tinton Falls, capturing SEAL Project footage and creating a video to inspire youth to make change.
• Claire Smigie, Little Silver, engaging younger generations on ways to reduce their environmental impact by developing a competition on who can take the most eco-friendly steps.
• David Stocker, Middletown, improving recycling education and practices at Middletown High School South.   
• Dani Vogel, Manalapan, decorating picture frames for a retirement home using debris collected at COA's Beach Sweeps.
• Hana Alhalawani, Long Branch, reducing light pollution by having community members commit to taking steps to cut down on their household's light usage. 
• Hayden Schechter, Rumson, presenting to a local middle school and getting a newspaper article published about ways individuals can help improve water quality in their day-to-day lives.  
• Isabella Sutton, Tinton Falls, improving the understanding and accessibility of native plants through a Seed Ball presentation and activity for a local middle school environmental club. 
• Jackie Rogers & Ryan McCormack, Little Silver, hosting a community day to educate, engage, and inspire peers on how to live more eco-friendly! 
• Jeremy Londono, Howell, hosting a series of educational presentations to inspire local youth to make change in their communities.
• Kaitlin Hintelmann & Olivia Boles, Tinton Falls, involving the community in a push towards planting more native species and getting a native tree planted at their school. 
• Lauren Fleming, Oceanport, helping slow the flow of stormwater runoff by creating a raingarden with local community members, peers, and environmental commission members. 
• Leanna Yeager, Middletown, educating youth about the importance of proper recycling through a presentation and beach sweep.
• Lily Mando & Bella Grannis, Middletown, incentizing the importance of reducing plastic usage by hosting a competition in local middle school classrooms. 
• Logan Thomas, Tinton Falls, & Nevaeh Vazquez, Eatontown, reducing food waste by coordinating excess food pickups from willing buisnesses and donating to local food banks in need.
• Nora Bolstad, Old Bridge, reducing clothing waste and fast fashion by hosting a seminar on how to sew and fix common problems in clothing. 
• Reilly Feder, Middletown, educating about bottle cap recycling with a schoolwide competition to collect bottle caps for dropoff at a local recycling facility.
• Robert Sherman, Tinton Falls, creating an inspirational clothing company "Youth Ambitions" paired with educational messaging about fast fashion's negative impacts. 
• Samantha Flores-Castillo, Red Bank, pairing with the local environmental commission to help local buisnesses lessen their dependence on singlue use plastic wrap, as well as learn to properly dispose of it. 

SEAL Projects 2021-2022:

• Samantha Flores-Castillo, Red Bank, cleaning up Red Bank through hosting a community cleanup and subsequent educational workshop with middle school students.
• Alexandra Wassman, Tinton Falls, educating preschool students about the importance of pollinators with a presentation and activity.
• Jackie Rogers, Little Silver, helping local businesses make an eco-friendly switch by asking customers first if they would like single use utensils, rather than simply supplying them.
• Olivia Boles, Tinton Falls, educating Tinton Falls community members on the proper disposal of batteries by hosting a battery collection dropoff and then hosting a cleanup of Tinton Falls. 
• Laylah Burke, Middletown, help lessen the amount of food waste in landfills by hosting a webinar on Commercial Composting for restaurants to learn ways of implementing composting.
• Ryan McCormack, Little Silver, engaging younger generations on ways to reduce the amount of pollution from plastic water bottles by hosting a competition on water bottle refills in local 4th grade classrooms. 
• Kaitlin Hintelmann, Tinton Falls, decreasing the amount of single use waste in Tinton Falls by creating a forumn via Instagram for communtiy members to post about their favorite reusable items. 

SEAL Projects 2020-2021:

• Chelsea Delalla, Ocean Township, educating elementary School students about the importance of planting trees and gardening.
• Isabella Taborda, Eatontown, engaging students in recycling by creating and supplying elementary school teachers with a pre-recorded informative Earth Day video featuring a craft made from recyclable materials.
• Jackie Rogers, Little Silver, helping local businesses make an eco-friendly switch by educating and informing about the best alternatives.
• Maya Burns, Keyport, reducing polluted stormwater runoff by planting Sugar Maple trees.
• Olivia Bonforte, Ocean Township, helping to alleviate the amount of polluted stormwater runoff by creating a rain barrel and donating it to a local community. 
• Olivia Fair, Highlands, beautifying the local First Aid Building while positively contributing to local pollinator species by planting and revamping the area with herbs and pollinator flowers.
• Orianna Nolan, Highlands, lessening the amount of litter in Highlands with the creation of the environmental group “Highlands Helpers 07732.”
• Sarah Taylor, Ocean Township, help lessen the amount of polluted stormwater runoff by hosting a virtual session called “Hydroponics Heals” to teach local middle schoolers how to create their own hydroponics system.
• Thomas Baron, Middletown, reduce the amount of litter on local beaches by designing and posting “No Littering” signs.
• William Franznick, Middletown, educating younger generations on local environmental issues and topics by creating curriculum-based environmental lesson plans and resources to provide teachers.