On this Wednesday, June 8, World Oceans Day, navigator Maud Fontenoy intends to relaunch sea classes thanks to the foundation that bears her name.
On this occasion, nearly 300 students, from kindergarten to high school, were invited to the Trocadero aquarium in Paris on Tuesday.
Supervised by their teachers, they took up the challenges set by the foundation by presenting a project addressing the protection of the oceans.
Some of them will have the opportunity to discover the waves for the first time.
“I would like to see a real shark,” enthused Céline, 13.
His little comrades share his enthusiasm for the idea of spending a few days together on the Atlantic coast.
The twenty students are part of the allophone class at Marie-Marvingt college near Nantes (Loire-Atlantique).
Aged 11 to 15, they are of Afghan, Roma or Thai origin.
“Some have never seen the sea in their life,” slips Nathalie Amador, one of their teachers.
“Important from a social and ecological point of view”
To allow them to become as comfortable as fish in water, their sports teachers organized, once a week, swimming sessions after school.
Next year, the whole class will be ready to take the plunge into the ocean.
In the meantime, the students crowd with amazed eyes in front of the windows of the Paris aquarium.
"The return of sea classes is important from a social and ecological point of view," says singer Nolwenn Leroy, present at this event, alongside actor Franck Dubosc and presenter Alex Goude.
“The sea is in my DNA and I try to pass that on to my little boy,” explains this Breton woman about Marin, her 4-year-old son.
The artist regrets that the subject of protecting the oceans was not discussed more during the last United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
An issue that is nevertheless “essential”, believes Nolwenn Leroy, for which “we must not only make promises”.
This ocean lover believes it is important "to awaken the consciousness of the new generation".
A hundred trips organized this year
In collaboration with the Ministry of National Education, Maud Fontenoy, president of the foundation, wishes to give new impetus to the sea class "which no longer really exists in France".
Organized on the initiative of the teachers, this optional outing has become increasingly rare.
Among the many reasons: the cost of the stay, the lack of time to finish the programs and the impacts of the health crisis.
In order to finance these school projects, the foundation relies on private funds.
This year, she hopes to be able to organize a hundred trips.
The objective: to allow children who cannot go on vacation due to lack of financial means to discover the coast.
The excursion has an educational aim, since it is based on educational programs allowing, in particular, that the pupils become familiar with the marine species and the environments in which they evolve.
While sailing around the globe, Maud Fontenoy gradually saw “the oceans transform”.
In question, the impact of human activities, such as plastic pollution which affects marine fauna.
The sea class is then an opportunity to make schoolchildren aware of the preservation of maritime areas.
While advocating a “positive ecology”, the navigator refuses to give in to fate: “Everyone can act.
And that, from an early age, during a class trip.
