The Environmental Studies Center provided teacher professional development entitled "Plastic Pollution in our Environment." Working in conjunction with the Mobile County Recycling Center we hosted a group of high school and middle school teachers and give them the opportunity to see how recycling takes place in our community and to hear guest speakers within the coastal recycling industries.
Our professional development included a total of twenty-two environmental science teachers from the Mobile County Public School System. This program provided an opportunity for conversations with experts on community pollution. Teachers were then able to brainstorm and generate viable solutions for organizing clean-up initiatives of local waterways within their own school communities. The goal was to provide teachers with the knowledge and tools to prepare students to make better environmental decisions as adults.

The Grand Bay NERR is home to estuarine marsh connecting to more upland wet pine savanna habitat. These ecosystems undergo constant change due to selective pressures, requiring continuous application of management, monitoring, and restoration. This presents a perfect opportunity to use these unique habitats and current management applications as a platform to educate students about ecological processes and applicable restoration practices. Grand Bay NERR was awarded a National Academy of Sciences Capacity Building grant for science education. Our program, CH∆NGES, aims to support the development of environmental literacy and stewardship in future generations and supply direct exposure to the real-world work of natural resource managers using student-centered, field-based education. Grand Bay NERR scientists and educators collaborated with local teachers to develop scientifically accurate, high quality lesson plans, and programming aligned with state and national science education standards. This hands-on education program took place in local classrooms and included two field days at Grand Bay NERR. In this presentation, the Bays & Bayous audience will learn about the program, the creative development process that includes input from teachers and science professionals, and its progress within the award period. A major takeaway was support from scientists and educators alike, so all scientists, resource managers, program directors, and educators are welcome to attend.

For the past 12 years, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium has supported a summer internship explicitly for underrepresented students through its support of environmental education programs at Discovery Hall of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The Summer Environmental Education Internship program provides undergraduate students with direct experience in the many facets of nonformal environmental education including teaching experience with students from K through 12th grade, communication with the public through outreach events, familiarity with the field of formal education through professional development for educators, and through working with DHP staff, the planning and operations associated with outdoor education programs. Interns are paid for their time and room and board is provided ensuring equitable access to students from many backgrounds. Interns are mentored by DHP's education team (the chair and 6 full time educators) who collectively represent a diversity of training and degrees held, teaching styles, life experiences and areas of focus for Gulf of Mexico knowledge. 
Since 2010, MASGC has supported 14 positions: we have successively recruited 12 individuals from underserved populations as interns. Seven individuals were African American, 3 were Latinx and 1 was a Pacific Islander. Five individuals have been from universities within Alabama, and 7 individuals came from universities in states from Maine to Hawaii. Exit interviews have indicated that interns feel their experience was valuable in increasing their knowledge of the Gulf of Mexico and further refining their interests, skills and career choice.