The Wahine Project
Monterey, California USA
June 9 to August 31, 2025

This summer, Sophie will be supporting The Wahine Project by enhancing their youth educational programming centered on environmental awareness, ocean stewardship, and social empowerment. Her project will focus on designing, planning, and implementing an engaging, age-appropriate curriculum for the organization’s “Trash Tuesdays” and “Women Wednesdays” initiatives—interactive weekly sessions that explore sustainability, ocean conservation, social justice, and the importance of community action. Her work this summer hopes to institutionalize a structure for educational/learning materials, creating an online accessible archive for future beach educators to use. In addition to supporting existing programming, Sophie will contribute to the development of new educational content that addresses critical topics such as climate change, marine ecosystems, and inclusivity in outdoor (particularly ocean/coastal) spaces. 

As The Wahine Project aims to inspire and empower children of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to become thoughtful, informed environmental stewards and community leaders, this project entwines Sophie’s passion for social justice, environmental action, and community-building. Another facet of Sophie’s project is assisting research grant funding to expand The Wahine Project’s impact, exploring different ways to bridge children’s outdoor experiences, environmental education, and empowerment, and supporting other factors as required.