Get Onboard for The Pier Aquarium’s Summer Marine Adventures

(6.21.10)

It’s time for The Pier Aquarium’s Summer Marine Adventures camp. This year’s sessions will be celebrated with an end of the summer art exhibit with other partner organizations at the Florida International Museum.

Friends and family of campers will be invited to the gallery, which will also feature the work of campers from Creative Clay and St. Petersburg College program College for Kids, from Aug. 6-28. An opening will be held from 6-8pm Thursday, Aug. 6.

The Pier Aquarium offers full day camp activities tailored for different age groups and interests, and for the first time in Pinellas County, had a summer camp designed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing children. This new camp called Explore the Bay, jointly created by the staffs of the aquarium and the Family Center on Deafness, Inc., a program of the James B. Sanderlin Family Service Center, was held June 14-18.

The camp, said Pier Aquarium President/CEO E. Howard Rutherford, is an extension of the deaf docent Virtual Tour Guide program initiated two years ago to enhance and diversify the aquarium’s visitor experience. In Florida, three million residents are deaf or hard of hearing. Approximately 1/6 of Florida’s citizens are affected by hearing loss.

Charon Feild Aurand, Director of the Family Center on Deafness (FCD), said the center offers summer camps each year, but this new collaboration made “the education at the aquarium accessible to children who have hearing loss.”

The camp was unique because it employed visual, hands-on educational activities to provide experiential learning for the participants, she explained. Deaf and hard of hearing campers communicated with FCD and aquarium staff through sign language, speech reading and amplification, what was most appropriate for each individual’s needs.

Both FCD and The Pier Aquarium said Explore the Bay was just the first of many exciting projects on which they will be collaborating through their ongoing partnership.

The aquarium’s other five, full-day camps offer marine activities include three “water art” camps sponsored by the Southwest Florida Water Management District:

* June 21-25: Let's Get Fresh for kids entering third or fourth grade. Learn about the origins of water, explore rivers and streams, take a trip to Crystal Springs Preserves. Cost: $200
* June 28-July 2: Go with the Flow for kids entering fifth or sixth grade. Learn about the watershed and visit Weedon Island and Shell Key. Cost: $200
* July 5-9: Worlds of Water for kids entering first and second grade. Explore the ocean and take road trips to Mote Marine Lab, Florida Aquarium and the estuary of Tampa Bay in our backyard. Cost: $200

 

The other camps include:

 

* July 12-16: Adventures Afloat for kids entering fifth or sixth grade. Climb aboard to learn about water safety and enjoy sailing, fishing and kayaking. Cost: $250
* July 26-30: Marine Mammals for kids entering first-fourth grade. Learn about mammals and have a close encounter with them at the Clearwater Aquarium. Cost: $250
* Aug. 2-6: Elasmobranch Encounters for kids entering third-sixth grade. Mysteries about sharks and sting rays are unveiled to campers with trips to Mote Marine Lab and the Florida Aquarium. Cost: $250

 

For more camp information and an application, please go to www.pieraquarium.org or contact Susan Sawyer, ssawyer@pieraquarium.org, (727) 895-7437, ext. 205.

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