Durham Fair

hans1976 · #1 09/29/2007, 09:44 PM

For those who went, did you check out the Discovery Tent? Coginchaug (sp.) has a Biology Dept that is trying to set up a salt water system. They were teaching about crabs and stuff you can find at the beach. They also had maybe a 20 gallon tank set up (loaned to them by Aquarium Conservation).

I watched the (I believe) Assistant Superintendent and she seemed to know what she was talking about. She knew about Dorey and Nemo and Frogspawn and sweepers. I got to talking to her afterward and she would like to get a setup in her school, but doesn't have the 1,000's of $$$ that it costs to set up a system.

So I gave her my business card and we will be talking over the next couple of weeks. I know a school teacher or two that may be able to help her get started.

But then I got thinking, how many other schools have this kind of stuff going on? Are they out there at the fairs and talking to and education the public? Should we be partnering with them?

mikelaubach · #2 09/29/2007, 10:29 PM

I was there (being that I live in Durham now!) with my wife and Mom (separate people, folks). The tank looked like a standard 29G like I have. I was proud when Tara (the wife) said:

"They have a hammer coral!"

She's still deciding what she wants to add to the tank in my office. So she's been looking at the fish stores we visit and seeing what she likes.

Being that there were just shy of !,432 people looking at the tank at the time, I spoke to no one and heard nothing from any one.

I know there are alot of schools with biology departments, I cannot say how many have up and coming "marine biologists" though. And of those, how many are interested in "partnering." Maybe a flyer to the school bio teacher to invite students to a special meeting? Or just to get the club info out there for them to check out on their own?

--MIKE--

fishieness · #3 09/30/2007, 12:49 AM

I think that would be awesome for us to educate schools about it. We are branched all around the state. I'm sure we'd be able to find a few schools that would be interested in setting up a tank somewhere for educational purposes. We could help them out to show them how to set it up, keep it running, etc.
I think it would be great.

hans1976 · #4 09/30/2007, 06:45 AM

We already work with the Science and Technology Magnet School in New London. Through the iGive network, every time we order something from places like HomeDepot.com, DrsFosterSmith, Hallmark.com, eBay and hundreds of others, a portion of the sale can be donated to the school. We also hold a meeting or two there (another one coming up on October 21). Their teacher is an active member of our club.

We work with E.O. Smith in Storrs. Many of our members have donated corals for them to try to propagate and we meet there (we will be meeting there Nov 18th). Again, we also get to learn from them. Their teacher is an active member of our club.

We work with the Lutz Childrens Museum. Our club president has donated a tank for them to set up (and several members donated other equipment) and he maintains it.

Ridgefield has a program. While their teacher is a member of the club, we don't do much with him.

How many other future hobbiest are out there that we can be learning from and teaching / helping?

ShiftNation · #5 09/30/2007, 07:45 AM

To me I believe that should be a top priority to the club . We need to promote reef conservation and proper hobby practices and techniques , also help new members , school children and any non hobbyist to understand as much as possible about this hobby and its impact good and bad on our oceans . I really have always respected what Fitch and Justin are doing because they are both promoting , teaching and actually interesting many young minds on this hobby and marine biology . I really believe something on the grass roots level like a fair , class at a school , or a booth at any event is something so simple for us to do and that many club members would really enjoy chatting with non hobbiests about what we do . I volunteer for any event you wanna plan Jeff , schedule permitting .

reefman13 · #6 09/30/2007, 08:41 AM

Well, we have officially started a marine biology club at Ridgefield High School and we will be working on our website and setting up our prop. systems in the coming months.

Coral prop, and fish/sea horse/pipe fish breeding will be our two main things.

But as of now, we are busy finalizing setup, and once we are all up and running, we would be happy to have a meeting at the school.

ctreefer · #7 09/30/2007, 08:42 AM

I agree, promoting interest at a young age is the best time. If we can figure out a way to promote interest at a later age that would be awesome as well. I'll sign my wife up right away!!!

fitch4 · #8 09/30/2007, 10:59 AM

Wow I wish I had thought of this...
This is what I am all about. The systems I run are for teaching and research about conservation and I appreciate all of the help that we have gotten along the way from CTARS and its members. I have put in to give a talk at the national science teachers convention in March about using marine aquaria as teaching tools. I should hear soon if they want me to speak or not. Just spreading the word!
Jon

renogaw · #9 09/30/2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikelaubach
I was there (being that I live in Durham now!) with my wife and Mom (separate people, folks). The tank looked like a standard 29G like I have. I was proud when Tara (the wife) said:

--MIKE--

being durham, its good you made this clarification

another group we may want to get in touch with, especially if we want to do more sound days like today, is the Soundkeepers. seems like a decent fit.

hans1976 · #10 09/30/2007, 06:08 PM

Jon,
Too bad you didn't think about that (j/k). Keep us updated on your convention.

Education has been the direction the club has taken this year. We have had 3 speakers so far and 2 more on tap. We have a DIY talk in December as well as a couple of photography workshops.

Next year we already have ~5 speakers already booked and a DIY workshop.

But how many other school Marine Biology departments are out there? And can we help them? Being that we have 250 members, we have some decent buying power. We now have a lot of industry contacts, can we use this too to help the schools? This administrator I talkd to, felt her school may not be able to get into reef keeping. She was led to believe that it would cost over $2,000 just to set up a small tank like she had (which was a 29g).

renogaw - can you get some more information on Soundkeepers for us? PM or email me the details.

reefman13 · #11 10/01/2007, 09:36 AM

Well, we are trying to get manufacturer sponsors for our dept. because the school forgot to enclude us in the extra curicular budget for the year. So as of now we have $0. So we are taking any kind of donations we can get, right now we are needing an overflow and a bucket of salt to get our first tank up and running.

In any case, I am sure there are more schools with these kinds of things.

renogaw · #12 10/01/2007, 03:06 PM

i have an overflow for a 75 gallon tank.

CulturedAquatic · #13 10/09/2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hans1976
How many other future hobbiest are out there that we can be learning from and teaching / helping?

Here is an interesting thread we started in the Advance Topic Forum about exploring new ideas and helping others. We are not only doing "what if things", we are trying out more constructive developments, one of which is to help the conservation of corals by propagating technics. Another is to breed (Large) Nassarius snails which Eric Bormann has been trying unsuccessfully to do. We have been breeding them for over a year an half now. Eric has asked if we could share our results with him.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...3#post10934673