Innovation Grant 2025 Spotlight: NY/NJ Baykeeper
“Nothing we do is in a silo. We are facing, particularly with environmental challenges, intersectional and intergenerational problems. With such a complex problem, the solution is going to require many different partners to be involved.”
— Keion Walker, Urban Outreach and Education Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
Once on a pre-law track, Keion Walker pivoted his career after realizing that the most meaningful change happens long before young people reach the justice system.
“I learned that you could predict a child’s outcome based on their literacy achievement,” Walker said. “And realized that by the time I was working with young adults, it already felt too late.”
That realization led him to education, and ultimately, to NY/NJ Baykeeper, where he now leads programs that blend science, mentorship, and hands-on learning to inspire curiosity about the natural world.
For more than 35 years, Baykeeper has worked to protect and restore the waterways that define the New York–New Jersey harbor region. As one of the founding members of the Waterkeeper Alliance, the organization has combined community partnerships, scientific research, and education to strengthen local ecosystems and connect people more deeply to their surrounding environment.
Today, that mission reaches classrooms, waterfronts, and youth programs across six New Jersey counties, supported in part by the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network (NJSPN) and the STEM Strategic Advisory Board’s Innovation Fund. As a 2025 Innovation Grantee, Baykeeper’s Urban Environmental STEM and Stewardship Initiative demonstrates how collaboration can turn real-world experiences into career awareness and skill development for students across the state.
“The NJSPN has been intentional in helping us build capacity to create opportunities in STEM,” Walker said. “Their support allows us to raise awareness, build meaningful career pathways, and help students see themselves as part of the solution.”
From Restoration to Real-World Learning
NY/NJ Baykeeper’s education initiatives build on a long history of environmental innovation and impact. In 2016 and 2017, Baykeeper researchers collected and analyzed hundreds of water samples to study the presence of microplastics in New Jersey’s waterways, a project that helped inform and support the passage of the state’s single-use plastics law in 2018.
NY/NJ Baykeeper’s education initiatives are a model for experiential STEM learning. Their signature Rink-to-Reef® program transforms broken or unused hockey sticks into carbon-based oyster habitats, an inventive approach that merges environmental science, engineering, and creativity.
Students from local schools help design, construct, and monitor these habitats along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, learning how oysters support cleaner waterways by naturally filtering water and fostering biodiversity. The program hopes to collaborate further with local sports teams, community groups, and schools, to expand the tangible results of hands-on science.
Ocean Pathways: A Summer of Discovery
Through the Ocean Pathways Summer Program, Baykeeper gives high school students a front-row seat to the science shaping New Jersey’s coasts and rivers. Over six weeks, students participate in immersive fieldwork and professional development experiences at sites such as Duke Farms, the Liberty Science Center, and Kearny Point, where they test water quality, explore biodiversity, and learn how ecosystems connect to daily life.
The summer concludes with the recording of the Ocean Pathways Podcast, where students share their insights and personal growth from the program.
The results speak for themselves:
- 65% of students earned perfect scores on final assessments, with an average cohort score of 91%.
- Alumni have gone on to higher education and STEM-related fields, including one student recently accepted to Princeton University (Class of 2029).
- Two college interns supported by the NJ Career Accelerator served as mentors, gaining valuable leadership and career experience.
The program’s field trips and applied learning experiences are designed to spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and show students how science connects to community and career.
A Shared Mission for New Jersey’s Future
Baykeeper’s work embodies the vision of the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network (NJSPN) to attract, cultivate, and retain a 21st-century workforce that is engaged and supported through the alignment of public and private resources, ensuring the state remains globally competitive and continues its rich history of innovation.
Through NJSPN’s collaborative network and the STEM Strategic Advisory Board’s Innovation Fund, organizations like Baykeeper are able to build meaningful partnerships that expand applied learning and connect students with future career pathways.
Since 2023, the Innovation Fund has invested $248,045 across 15 counties, reaching more than 91,000 learners statewide. From robotics and fabrication labs to marine science and environmental research, these projects share a common goal: building a workforce-ready New Jersey by giving students authentic experiences that build confidence and connect classroom learning to emerging career pathways.
By linking young people to the science and systems that shape their world, NY/NJ Baykeeper demonstrates how collaboration, rooted in community and guided by purpose, can turn curiosity into career potential and local engagement into lasting impact.
“What makes this work powerful,” Walker reflected, “is that it isn’t about one program or one organization. It’s about building a network that sees every student, every shoreline, every opportunity as part of a larger ecosystem of impact.”