COASTAL KIDS L.A.
COASTAL KIDS L.A.
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Our History

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Gordon C Ewing, director and founder of Coastal Kids LA., began with combining a personal love of being outdoors with a professional love of teaching children. He has taught in early childhood education for 16 years and has been active outdoors his entire life. In 2010, he began teaching at the Santa Monica YWCA and it was there that he was first introduced to the idea of a classroom that is 100% outdoors. It was at a workshop for “The Outdoor Classroom Project” that he heard that just about anything you can do indoors you can do outdoors, especially in Southern California.

It was the following year that Gordon really began to switch from team-based sports in his personal life to becoming a traveling trail runner raising money for various kids’ programs. It was through making this lifestyle change that he really began to explore nature like he had never done before. Gordon’s running and racing has helped raise over $30k and enabled him to go on adventures and explore all over the world. This became a true passion and before long he was able to combine these adventures in nature with his joy for teaching young children.

The YWCA was to undergo a renovation in the summer of 2015 so Gordon decided to take this opportunity to start a summer beach camp for kids. He immediately knew that this was what he wanted to do and where the kids needed to be. It does not get any better than waking up in the morning and heading out to the beach to play and provide an enriching outdoor learning experience for young children. He fell in love with playing at the beach all over again and he currently cannot resist jumping in the ocean no matter what time of year it is. Gordon also began to take the kids exploring in nature on some of his favorite trails.

The YWCA eventually closed down the following year, after which Gordon branched out on his own and created the Coastal Kids program. We just completed our seventh summer of beach camps. They have a firm belief in outdoor learning and it shows in how much fun they have on their adventures with the kids each and every day. It brings them great joy seeing children learn, explore, grow, and discover in nature.

 

 
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Gordon C. Ewing

Founder, Director, Teacher

Gordon’s first experience in early childhood education was doing volunteer work while attending Loyola High School of Los Angeles. He volunteered at the Heart of Los Angeles Youth Organization and the Glendale Teen Youth Pregnancy Center. Gordon enjoyed this time and found he had a knack for teaching and coaching children. Gordon continued to coach at sports camps while he attended Santa Clara University. In 2004, he started working at a preschool in Colorado and has worked in early childhood education for the past 19 years. He taught at the Santa Monica YWCA / DIG Childhood Center for 6 years and was lead teacher for the 2-4 year old outdoor classroom. It was during this time that he experienced the most growth as a teacher and a leader with Barbara Olinger as his mentor. He has teaching experience with kids of all ages from 6 weeks on up and now has a one year old daughter of his own.

Gordon graduated Magna Cum Laude in Finance at Cal State LA and has completed several Early Childhood Education courses, as well as attended many trainings and workshops, including the outdoor classroom project. He has also offered sports classes and a Kid’s Night Out programs during his time at the YWCA.  His experience with conducting beach camps was where his outdoor preschool was born back in 2015!! In starting Coastal Kids LA is where Gordon truly found his calling. His program combines his personal love of outdoor adventures and exploring in nature with his professional career of guiding children in their young lives. In his spare time Gordon loves to run, travel, and explore the great outdoors.     

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