Sand Bandits is the Dunes Center summer and afterschool program that services approximately 100 local Guadalupe students ranging in ages from five to eighteen each year. Dunes Center staff and volunteers work hard to provide quality science education for local Guadalupe students.

The goal of the Sand Bandits program is to provide youth with diverse, creative, and substantive science experiences. The Center’s strategy is to allow participants to interact cooperatively within the group and with a broad range of materials and equipment, to conduct experiments and projects that facilitate discovery and to learn about the many components involved in conserving our natural resources.

The Sand Bandits curriculum includes daily sessions focused on botany, mammals, birds, tracking, dune formation, natural history and so much more! Students will also be able to use their skills first hand in the field on one of several opportunities to visit Oso Flaco Lake and Rancho Guadalupe Beach. Aside from these great trips students will also work with professionals in the field to do some research suited to their interests and the environment. Students are encouraged to work together to find answers through research, group projects and working as a scientific team.

Sand Bandits also seeks to increase environmental literacy in the target audience and make it a regular part of their lives. An underlying goal of the Dunes Center education programs is to encourage environmental stewardship of the Dunes complex and its value as a natural resource. As members of the environmental education community, the Dunes Center values basic critical thinking skills, exploration of nature and connecting children with the great outdoors.

Simply put, Sand Bandits is preparing today’s children for tomorrow’s future.

For more information on how you can sign up for the fall quarter of Sand Bandits, please contact Kanani Fox, Education & Administrative Coordinator at 805-343-2455 ext 203 or send her an email at kfox@dunescenter.org.