Media Invited as New College Hosts 50 Elementary Students and Their Families Pritzker Marine Center, November 6

(November 3, 2010) — More than 50 elementary school students and their families will go to the water’s edge to interact with marine life this Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010, at New College of Florida’s Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center. Children from Sarasota’s Fruitville Elementary School will explore the aquatic environment with guided walks along Sarasota Bay, environmental games, wetland activities and a tour of the Pritzker Marine Center, which houses touch tanks and more than 90 aquaria, anchored by a 12,000 gallon research and display tank and six large aquariums. New College students and faculty will use video microscopes to show the center’s tiniest marine life. This program is funded in part by a grant from the AT&T Foundation.

WHAT:        New College Marine Outreach Program for elementary students, including a bay walk, games and tours of the the Pritzker Marine Center.

WHERE:      Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, New College of Florida, 5800 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota. From U.S. 41, turn west on College Drive. After the stop sign, continue west. The Pritzker Marine Center is the building on the right with two white water towers.

WHEN:        Saturday, November 6 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

WHO:           More than 50 families from Sarasota’s Fruitville Elementary School led by New College faculty and students.

Hundreds of K-12 students visit the Pritzker Marine Center each year through field trips and grant programs. New College runs PUSH/SUCCESS, a two-week summer program for low-income students to learn how the health of the bay affects the health of its citizens. A grant from the AT&T Foundation enables families to work with faculty and undergraduates to improve informal learning of science. The College partners with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program to provide local teachers with hands-on training in the natural sciences and with the Science and Education Council to promote watershed awareness.

At right: The children play a game of Sea Creature Tag. The player who is “it” has to tag another player before they yell out a sea creature and are safe. This encourages the children to think of all of the specific sea creatures they know.

Photo credits:  Elena Korallis, New College of Florida student