Family Tides
When Lyntaga Smith started AC Kids Who Beachcomb, she wanted to create the kind of outlet for local teens she wished she’d had growing up.
“I’ve always wanted to do something for kids in the community,” Smith said. “I volunteered a lot of my time with different organizations, and it was great, but it never felt 100% right for me. I wanted to do more.”
Raised in Atlantic City, Smith said there wasn’t much for teens to do. She turned to creative outlets, spending time at the Ventnor Cultural Arts Center. About 20 years ago, she began beachcombing, collecting sea glass and shells before eventually turning her finds into jewelry.
Today, Smith has built a career around helping others feel good inside and out: she owns Sea Me Glow, where she sells handmade jewelry and other creations and offers esthetician services, and she teaches yoga as a certified instructor through The Leadership Studio in Atlantic City.
Now she’s focused on sharing the activities that brought her peace — beachcombing, yoga and art — with local teens.
“All of the things I started to do later on in my life, after high school, it brought me so much joy, and it brought me a lot of peace. And I know how much kids need that; they don’t really have a lot of different outlets to go to. A lot of things are focused on sports, so I just wanted to do something different to just bring mindfulness to the kids in my community, but through a way that has benefited me,” she said.
The free program is geared toward ages 13 to 17 in Atlantic County, with sessions on select Saturdays in October and November. Classes are kept small and typically capped at 15 students.
Smith explained that sessions occur in the fall because teens tend to have summer jobs and the beaches aren’t cleaned daily, making it easier to find treasures.
While many local programs are designed for younger children, Smith saw a need for teens.
“Over the years, it’s been tough to get the teens to come because it was something that was so different, and I would have a lot of parents trying to sign up their younger kids. But for me, the younger kids don’t really get the concept of what it is I’m trying to expose them to, which is focusing on mindfulness and channeling our emotions and regulating our emotions,” she said.
Sessions vary, from beachcombing along Atlantic City and Ventnor beaches to yoga, creating art and even field trips, such as to a professional jewelry-making class. Smith also brings students to the Ventnor Cultural Arts Center, not only because it’s where she began, but to connect them with a local creative resource.
Parents, she said, are often just as excited as their kids, expressing how they need a program like this, too.
“It’s really been an amazing journey the last few years with the program,” Smith said. “Another thing I never really expected was kids who have been in the program previously wanting to come back year after year.”
In the past few years, she has seen several repeat participants. Most of her students also tend to be boys.
Smith often involves local artists and professionals to assist with sessions, including a photographer who joins them weekly, and she noted that it was important for her to show the boys men who are working in creative fields.
“Representation matters so much,” she said. “The last couple of years, I had a male artist and a male photographer, and I felt like I needed that because I wanted the boys in the program to see there are men who do these things.”
At the end of each year, Smith surveys her students about what they enjoyed (and what they didn’t). Even the flops, like a frustrating windchime-making project, carried lessons.
“The kids were so frustrated throughout the process, but I tried to make them look at it from a standpoint of, yes, I know how frustrating this activity is right now, and this just shows us how things in our lives happen that can be very frustrating, and how are we going to handle it? Are we going to let the frustration get the best of us? Are we going to be so frustrated and say, ‘Oh. I don’t want to do it anymore,’ which is what happens a lot of times, even for us as adults,” Smith said.
For Smith, the most rewarding part is exposing teens to new experiences and seeing their excitement.
“I’m looking forward to being outside more this year and being able to paint on the beach with the kids,” she said.
This year’s program will be held Oct. 11, 18, 25 and Nov. 1. Every session includes lunch, and space is limited.
Parents interested in registering their teens, or those who want to support the program, can contact Smith at seameglow@gmail.com. To learn more, visit seameglow.com/ackwb.
Madison Russ is an award-winning journalist, copy editor and adjunct professor of communication based in Atlantic County. An Ocean City native, Madison is passionate about telling stories that matter to locals, often spotlighting nonprofits and exploring the area’s vibrant arts scene.
