POCACITO Summer Camp 2024: Where climate change and biodiversity intersect
German-American Academy on Coastal Biodiversity and Climate Change in Mississippi, July 8-12, 2024
Do you care about preserving coastal biodiversity and protecting the coasts and coastal ecosystems against the impacts of climate change?
Do you want to learn how scientists and researchers study the environment?
Do you want to be a part of an international youth group that turns knowledge into action?
This summer, POCACITO, Mississippi State University’s Coastal Conservation and Restoration Program, and the German Foreign Office invite high school-age youth from the US and Germany to join the next POCACITO summer camp in Biloxi on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.
From July 8 to 12, 2024, participants will experience together what it means to protect coastal biodiversity and ecosystems in the face of climate change. Learning from scientists and field researchers working in Germany and Mississippi, we explore ideas including nature-based solutions, environmental stewardship, ecosystem conservation, adaptation and mitigation, and biomimicry.
Most important, we turn those ideas into action. We’ll go on hikes to learn how to identify the flora and fauna of an ecosystem, use drones and kayaks to create maps, take a boat trip to the barrier islands to measure climate change’s impact, plant indigenous vegetation to restore the coast’s natural protections, and learn from nature and its systems how we might address environmental degradation and the effects of climate change in the built environment.
And we put it all together through creative arts projects and the production of a youth-led podcast. All participants receive a certificate of participation at the end of this international science and coastal protection program.
The POCACITO Summer Camp is a collaborative endeavor developed with Mississippi State University’s Coastal Conservation and Restoration Program and supported by the Embassy of Germany in Washington, DC. The program takes place in English with multiple native and fluent German speakers on staff. Intercultural exchange is a highlight of the week, and we look forward to celebrating the diversity of this year’s international cohort.
For participants from the US, we ask you to arrange your own transportation to and from Biloxi, arriving on Sunday, July 7, and departing Saturday morning, July 13. Please contact us (email and phone below) if you need assistance or have questions.
The program includes:
- accommodation at Camp Wilkes in Biloxi from July 7 to July 13,
- all meals (vegan, nut free, gluten free options available), and
- all activities and lectures.
For participants from Germany, we will arrange for international transportation.
The program includes:
- roundtrip group air ticket from Germany,
- roundtrip land transport from the airport to Camp Wilkes,
- accommodation at Camp Wilkes in Biloxi from July 7 to July 13,
- all meals (vegan, nut free, gluten free options available), and
- all activities and lectures.
The programming is intended for high school students, generally assumed to be between 14 and 18 years of age. Exceptions can be made, but we ask that you contact us before applying to discuss accommodations.
We seek to be inclusive and affirming. Please share your needs or concerns with us so that everyone feels welcome and supported. The program is offered on a pay-as-you-can basis.
You can apply here: https://forms.gle/g6BSyzacSWhTbWVN7
Application are accepted until May 30.
Special thanks to the German Foreign Office and the Embassy of Germany in Washington for their support.
Contact Max Gruenig via email at max@pocacito.org or by phone (text or call) at +1-202-550-9072 with any questions (German / English).
More information about the Mississippi State University Coastal Conservation and Restoration Program: http://coastal.msstate.edu/ccr
Join us!