What's Behind Cultivating Currents
About Us
Empowering the next generation of environmental leaders through hands-on science, citizen research, and place-based learning that connects youth to the natural world around them.
We Believe in A Collaborative Approach
We believe the most impactful science happens at the intersection of community, curiosity, and collaboration. That’s why everything we do—from street science kits to full-scale expeditions—is built on shared effort and local connection.
Collaboration by Design
We don’t drop in
—we link arms.
We work alongside educators, youth organizations, researchers, and community leaders to co-create programs that are responsive, localized, and sustainable. Whether it’s a dockside pop-up or a teen-designed water quality project, we listen first and build together.
Community Rooted Engagement
Science belongs to everyone.
We bring tools and training to where people already are—schools, shelters, city streets, marinas. Our model is flexible, street-smart, and hyperlocal, ensuring that youth from all backgrounds—especially girls and underrepresented learners—can participate fully and meaningfully.
Science in Action
Real tools. Real data.
Real impact.
Our programs are built on nationally aligned protocols (like NOAA PMN), empowering teens and community members to collect valid data, contribute to real-time environmental monitoring, and see themselves as part of the scientific process. We don’t simulate science—we do it.
Our Mission
To empower youth
*especially girls and learners outside traditional education*
with hands-on science experiences at the intersection of agriculture, freshwater, and ocean systems.
Through citizen science, storytelling, and place-based learning, Cultivating Currents helps young people become environmental investigators, data collectors, and changemakers in their own communities.
Hands on Science
Real research experiences that connect youth directly to environmental data collection and analysis
Inclusive Access
Prioritizing girls and underserved communities who are often excluded from traditional STEM pathways
Place-Based Learning
Connecting science to local ecosystems, agriculture, and waterways that matter to communities
Our Vision
A world where every young person—regardless of background—has equal access to science, and where girls in every community can connect to land, water, and data as part of shaping a sustainable future.
Meet our Executive Director
Terry Travers (She/Her)
Terry Travers is a marine science-trained environmental educator, science communicator, and citizen researcher with over four decades of experience. From working with NOAA translating scientific data into youth-friendly content, to launching a sustainable goat farm and farm-based high school program, Terry’s journey bridges science, design, and self-directed learning.
A lifelong advocate for hands-on, real-world education, Terry launched Cultivating Currents to ensure all youth—especially those too often left out—can participate in the science that shapes our ecosystems and communities. Her current project, the Living Loop Lab, is a 6,000-mile floating classroom and research expedition focused on the links between agriculture, nutrient pollution, and algal blooms along America’s Great Loop.