Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, will recognize Carpinteria Middle School and Robert J. Frank Intermediate on Monday for their designation as Ocean Guardian Schools by the National Marine Sanctuaries’ California Bay Watershed Education and Training Program.

Capps has been a longtime supporter of the B-WET program, which seeks to educate schoolchildren on how to maintain healthy watersheds and oceans, securing more than $2 million in federal funds for the program.

“I’m very proud of the students, teachers and administrators at Carpinteria Middle School and Robert J. Frank Intermediate for achieving this recognition,” Capps said. “Ocean Guardian Schools are helping our kids learn more about their environment and how to protect it. Locally based educational efforts like this are critical to ensuring we are good stewards of our environment and its many resources.”

As part of Monday’s ceremony at Carpinteria Middle School, Capps will present the official Ocean Guardian banner to be posted on school grounds, speak about the importance of the program and what it means to be an Ocean Guardian School.

An Ocean Guardian School makes a commitment to the protection and conservation of the world’s oceans by proposing and then implementing a school- or community-based conservation project. In return for taking steps to protect the ocean, each school receives funds to implement the project, and at the end of the school year, will receive a banner designating it as an Ocean Guardian School.

Click here for more information on Ocean Guardian and the B-WET program.

— Randolph Harrison is the chief of staff for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.