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The word "quest" can be defined as the "act of pursuing something" and in University of North Carolina at Wilmington's MarineQuest program, students have the opportunity for an incredible quest.

The students' mission, based on the summer program's philosophy, is to explore, discover and value our community's marine habitat in hopes that they will become stewards for our coastal environment. Program Coordinator Jeremy Burnett explained that the goal of UNCW's MarineQuest is to not only challenge the participating students, but also offer them multiple hands-on learning opportunities. Throughout the week, students participate in a variety of activities that entertain the brain, challenge the students mentally and physically and give them an unique opportunity to connect and take full advantage of our marine and aquatic environment.

Over the past thirty years, UNCW's MarineQuest has evolved from its meager beginnings of three camps to twenty-seven camps. Geared for school-aged children, the non-traditional recreational camps are designed so that children, ages five to seventeen, never repeat the same camp. From whales to sharks to tracking the migratory path of sea creatures to discovering the underlying reason for some of the ocean's biggest mysteries to learning how to conduct field research by using hand-held computers to learning how to use underwater digital photographs and videos, campers can choose the camp that arouses their curiosity each summer and participate in camps that are designed to allow growth within the MarineQuest program year to year. The week-long camps take students out of the classroom and into the marsh, fouling stations, aquariums and on research vessels and dive sites. MarineQuest also offers camps for both commuters and residents and offers sibling camps, mermaid camps for girls and "masculine mayhem" camps for boys.

"I think our camps are appealing because of their value," Jeremy explained. "Parents are attracted to the camps because for the money, their children are being exposed to engaging activities and experiences that are intertwined with our state's standard course study. Our campers don't see our camps as 'educational.' The camps are just fun," Jeremy said.

Jeremy explained that in his five years with the program it's encouraging to see past campers coming back to the camp now as students at UNCW who are majoring in marine science. "Former participants are now instructors and are sharing their love for marine science with our campers now. It's nice to have a pipeline for our K-12 community to college," Jeremy shared.

This past summer, my then five-year-old son attended the Sea Squirts camp. The half-day camp ran Monday through Friday and each day, my up-and-coming marine scientist came home full of newly discovered facts about our coastal environment. He was proud of his recently discovered knowledge and was willing to share with anyone willing to listen. My son became consciously aware of his impact on the beach. When digging deep holes at the beach for sandcastles, he carefully filled them back in prior to leaving so "baby sea turtles wouldn't fall into the holes and get stuck" and he began scouring the beach before we left to make sure we had collected all our trash.

As a parent, I was thrilled to know that UNCW's MarineQuest staff and instructors had received extensive training prior, fifty or more hours, at the beginning of each summer. The staff and instructors are both CPR and First Aid certified and also submit themselves to a criminal background check. With a low staff to camper ratio, MarineQuest provides parents with piece of mind knowing that their children are also under the supervision of at least one trained lifeguard.

During school year, MarineQuest offers Family Nights. These free programs are designed to give families, specifically parents, an opportunity to see for themselves what their children are learning in MarineQuest. The evening themed programs are offered once a month and are for children between the ages of eleven and fourteen. MarineQuest also offers Saturday morning themed programs once a month for children, between the ages of seven and eleven, and their families.

For more information about UNCW's MarineQuest, visit their website. Enrollment for this summer is still available and a complete list of camps and descriptions are available.