Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Congratulations to Maritime Gloucester
Congratulations to Maritime
Gloucester on the 20th year of their Ocean Explorers Program!
I was happy to attend their first annual Ocean Explorer
graduation open house for the 5th graders. There were many educational stations
and activities set up for them to “teach” and then they were awarded a
graduation from the OE program certificate to mark the occasion.
Brief history of how Ocean Explorers came to be:
Back in 2004, Gloucester Public Schools announced that they
did not have the funds for elementary school students to get science. They
would have to wait until middle school!
MG answered the call to change this and Ocean Explorers was
born. For 20 years they have provided every 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student in
Gloucester with quality, multi-contact, experiential STEM opportunities.
They have served approximately over 13,000 children with
110,000+ program hours! This is done at no cost to the schools, directly
raising all of the funds for 20 years. This includes getting every kid out on
the Ardelle for science at sea each year!
The program has transformed Maritime Gloucester from a
working waterfront museum to a regional leader in education. Their campus and
resource investments include a Sea Pocket Aquarium, live animal touch tanks,
environmental programs, an award-winning educational curriculum in marine
science, and now our Maritime Science Education Center as a destination for
tourism and our community.