Awareness of the environment, and fight against climate change: Plastic pollution is a worldwide problem. During environmentally-focused activities, the participants were educated and activated on how to tackle this environmental challenge. Activities like: Do It Yourself (DIY) workshops, to make their own eco-friendly toothpaste or deodorant. Also, doing groceries without any plastic use, and they participated in several quizzes. Activities within the program inspired not only the participants, but also others within their network. To be able to inspire others, participants had to see things from a different perspective, become confident to tackle challenges and make a change. Self-reflection and setting goals were essential during this process: the awareness of one's values does help, as a person's values direct all behaviour. The participants did multiple sessions of micro-plastic research and beach clean-ups on several local beaches in different countries, to raise awareness and incentivise the debate on the theme. The quality of the sustainability-related activities was ensured by the onboard researcher sent by The Ocean Movement, Maarten Erich. Inclusion and Diversity: When sailing, your background does not matter and everyone is included in all aspects of life on board. Also, once confronted by challenging situations, like rough weather and seasickness, the ‘image’ the participants have built about themselves and others will disappear. You need everyone to sail the ship together, regardless of experience and background, and through challenging situations, the participants bonded more easily. Outside of sail training the participants connected by sharing dishes, snacks, games, songs or dances from their country. To be included in all activities, participants needed to be comfortable speaking and expressing themselves. Therefore, there was language support in the preparations of the Exchange for those participants who did not feel comfortable using English as the main language. Moreover, mentors were also there to provide guidance, and the crew did the same during sail training activities. Participation, common values, and civic engagement: The skills required to get people more involved in their communities are very similar to the ones necessary to help build a greener future: self-esteem, confidence, personal development, etc. By implementing a few activities that focused on personal growth and democracy, as well as incentivizing the reflection on those topics, we ensured that participants became more aware of the importance of their civic participation. These objectives fit together very well, they amplified each other. To work on sustainability issues, we needed to include everybody and thus needed to understand how to work together. By joining this program participants became better prepared to face the challenges of modern society and life in their community or their professional/academic career and are aware of their ability to make a change.