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Working Coast Camp In Houma Teaches Children About Big Industry

The Working Coast campers set out fishing on their last day.
Laine Kaplan-Levenson
/
WWNO
The Working Coast campers set out fishing on their last day.
The Working Coast campers set out fishing on their last day.
Credit Laine Kaplan-Levenson / WWNO
/
WWNO
The Working Coast campers set out fishing on their last day.

South Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish has low unemployment — there are lots of jobs in offshore services. So many that there could be a shortage of locals with the skills needed. The Working Coast summer camp in Houma teaches kids about the big industries in their area, and aims to get them excited about those career paths.

About 30 kids hang their fishing poles over a small bridge outside the Water Life Museum inHouma, Louisiana. They’re enjoying their last day at the Working Coast Camp.

Over the course of a week, the kids take daily field trips to work sites. They meet folks who work on shipyards, at alligator farms and civil engineering firms, to get an idea of what jobs they could get locally when they grow up.

JonathanForetis the head of the camp, and executive director of the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center. “You know what was interesting?”Foretexclaimed. “A lot of places where we went, they would ask the kids who has family that works in the oil industry and a majority of hands would go up.”

Hands like 10-year-old BradThibodaux, whose dad is the boss of an oil company, and 12- year-old KatherineBonvillian, whose dad owns Olympian Machine, a company that manufactures machines to drill for oil.

The camp focus is onTerrebonne’stwo economic pillars, oil and fishing. The hands-on exposure makes some of these kids think. Like 11-year-old Dylan Ryan, who went into camp thinking he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up. Now? “Someone who wants to study the wetlands,” Ryan says.

KatherineBonvillainalready knows a lot about industry and the endangered coast. But camp filled in the details. “It made me learn more stuff about what we’re doing, and what we’re doing to help save it [the coast]” saidBonvillain. “Which is good, but everything takes a long time to do and I don’t think we have that much time to do it.”

Camp directorForetgrew up inChauvin, Louisiana. Over the past 37 years, he’s seen cattle grazing fields turn to open water, he’s seen homes destroyed, and he’s seen people leave.

Camp Director Jonathan Foret.
Credit Laine Kaplan-Levenson / WWNO
/
WWNO
Camp Director Jonathan Foret.

“You look at down the bayou in theBoudreauxCanal area, down pastChauvin, and the elementary school where my mom was a principle is now closed because there are not enough children that live down the bayous to support that school,” he says.

A bit further up fromBoudreauxCanal, another school has closed. “That is a clear indication that families are moving from the south into the northern part of the parish. Why? People don’t want to get flooded anymore.”

At camp, the kids run around the Water Life Museum on a scavenger hunt. This rainy day activity has them finding answers in the museum exhibits like ‘What is aPogiefish used for?’ ‘How many people did the trapping season once put to work?’ and ‘What doesTerrebonnemean?’

The kids are inspired after a week at camp. But they’re worried, too. Like 12-year-old Grayson. “Before we know it there’s not gonna be any more Louisiana or Florida or Everglades.” When asked what they will do in such a scenario, the kids projected they would have to move to a different state, learn a different culture.

It’s clear that these kids are attached to their unique home, like Brad Thibodeaux. “Only in Louisiana in the swamp you can go outside and you could shoot your guns… but when this is gonna be destroyed, you can't just go out and have fun and be in the wildlife. In the city you can’t smell that smell — when you live close to it the coast is your livelihood.”

Next year, camp director Foret wants to spend a whole day on Coastal Restoration companies, so the kids can learn about the next big industry full of new jobs on the coast.

Support for coastal reporting on WWNO comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Kabacoff Family Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Copyright 2021 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio. To see more, visit WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio.

Laine Kaplan-Levenson
Laine Kaplan-Levenson is a producer and reporter for NPR's Throughline podcast. Before joining the Throughline team, they were the host and producer of WWNO's award-winning history podcast TriPod: New Orleans at 300, as well as WWNO/WRKF's award-winning political podcast Sticky Wicket. Before podcasting, they were a founding reporter for WWNO's Coastal Desk, and covered land loss, fisheries, water management, and all things Louisiana coast. Kaplan-Levenson has contributed to NPR, This American Life, Marketplace, Latino USA, Oxford American (print), Here and Now, The World, 70 Million, and Nancy, among other national outlets. They served as a host and producer of Last Call, a multiracial collective of queer artists and archivists, and freelanced as a storytelling and podcast consultant, workshop instructor, and facilitator of student-produced audio projects. Kaplan-Levenson is also the founder and host of the live storytelling series, Bring Your Own. They like to play music and occasionally DJ under the moniker DJ Swimteam.