About Us

Seacoast Science Center is a non-profit marine science education organization located within Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, New Hampshire.

Our Mission

To spark curiosity, enhance understanding, and inspire the conservation of our Blue Planet.

Our Vision

We envision a healthy World Ocean.

Our Why

Our Blue Planet is changing at an unprecedented rate. Its health and environmental integrity are threatened by rising temperatures, pollution, and the destruction of natural habitats. We are experiencing more extreme weather events, alarming changes in ocean chemistry, coastal flooding due to sea level rise, and loss of critical natural habitats. Climate change is real and is putting all life on earth at risk, including ours.

Worldwide, and right here at home in New Hampshire, we are facing the challenges of climate change. Our Blue Planet is demanding attention. If we are going to keep the earth habitable for generations to come, we must dedicate ourselves to conserving the resources of our fragile planet.

At Seacoast Science Center, we believe that science-based education holds the key to inspiring conservation and bringing restorative, positive change to our environment. By experiencing the natural world and understanding our impacts on its delicate systems, everyone can learn to think critically and act pragmatically in ways that will improve the long-term health of our planet.

Our Core Values

Seacoast Science Center’s core values that are reflected in all of our educational programming, fundraising activities, external messaging, and internal business practices.

The Importance of Environmental Conservation and the World Ocean

The World Ocean plays a prominent role in our daily lives—moderating our climate, providing sustenance and valuable resources, as a place of biodiversity and natural wonder, and as a critical cultural mainstay of seacoast New Hampshire. We realize that we have an inherent responsibility to nurture and conserve our natural resources, advance ocean health, and preserve our deep cultural connections to coastal land, the coastal watershed, and the sea.

The Inspiration of Locale

We believe that Odiorne Point State Park plays an integral role in the Seacoast Science Center achieving its mission. We recognize that by engaging visitors, first-hand, in the significant natural features and history of Odiorne Point State Park, we are able to facilitate learning, appreciation, and the understanding of the interconnectedness between land and sea.

The Power of Personal Experiences

We believe that personal experiences and engagement are fundamental to meaningful education and hold the key to conserving the World Ocean. Through education and the interpretation of Odiorne Point State Park, we can foster awareness, enhance environmental literacy, advance natural resource conservation ethics, and move people to action, thus facilitating change that will help to ensure a healthy, sustainable natural environment and World Ocean for future generations.

Meaningful Relationships

We believe that the Seacoast Science Center’s human resource is its most valuable asset. We value a diverse and inclusive community, and will model, promote, and implement this vision.

The Spark of Innovation

We believe that only through innovation can we consistently provide an engaging, contemporary visitor experience. By keeping our content current, we can do our part to prepare our students, visitors, and constituents to address present and future challenges to the health, abundance, and sustainability of the World Ocean.

The Necessity of Sustainability

We believe that the Seacoast Science Center must be an example in our community through what we teach, what we advocate for, and how we act as individuals and representatives of the institution. How we operate as an organization must represent a positive example of how to live in a manner that promotes environmental conservation and helps to sustain a healthy World Ocean.

Land Acknowledgement

Seacoast Science Center is located on N’dakinna, which is the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude the land and waterways and the alnobak (people) who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.