What's New!Greetings and Happy Winter!
We are ringing in the new year with some big changes to our SeaScripts newsletter! In an effort to bring you an updated and more engaging experience, we have gone DIGITAL! Throughout your reading you will see videos, pictures and interactive surveys- all in an effort to bring you an enjoyable reading experience. Ads with registrations and email addresses are clickable as well! We can't wait to hear the feedback, good and bad alike! Best, Hannah Giddens Seascripts Editor |
In this Issue Don't Miss:
Captain's Corner
Dear Abby
Upcoming SCMEA Events
SCMEA Reports: An Inside Glipmse Into the Depths
Linnaeus's Creature Feature
Lesson Plan To-Go
Meet the Board
New Board Members
Captain's Corner
AHOY!
We’re still riding the wake of a phenomenal National Marine Educator’s Association Annual Conference! What an incredible event to be a part of! I want to thank everyone from our fearless co-chairs, Austin Brown, Lindsay Patterson, and Jaime Thom to everyone that served on the conference planning committee (see below), to the folks that helped to paint signs, stuff bags, or donated to the silent auction- we couldn’t have done it without you!!
One of the most memorable parts of NMEA 2017 for me was the speaker line up- from Dr. Orrin Pilkey to our plenary panels- to our Stegner Lecture with Queen Quet. The conference blended different speakers, backgrounds, and art forms to showcase the resiliency of the lowcountry.
At one point during her performance, Queen Quet pulled out the “sacred” Webster and read many different definitions for resiliency. She then said “What is this resiliency? That’s what the Gullah Geechee call life.” As we head into the next year- resiliency will hold a different definition for all of us. Maybe it means budget cuts for your school and finding a way to do more with less, maybe it means a lack of support for teaching topics like climate change, maybe it means a new career path all together- whatever “resiliency” means to you, I hope that you will find strength and support through your involvement with SCMEA.
Full speed ahead!
Your new Captain,
Kendyll Collins
It Takes a Village
2017 Co-Chairs: Lindsay Patterson, Austin Brown, Jaime Thom
Auction: EV Bell, Beth Burkett, Connie Leverett, Hannah Giddens Exhibits: Steve Morton, Cindy Lilly, Rachel Davis Field Trips: EV Bell, Julie Cliff, Beth Burkett, Meika Samuel Finance: Austin Brown Fundraising and Sponsors: Steve Morton, Mark Madden Hospitality: Rachel Bassett, Sue Morrison, Meika Samuel Logistics: Kendyll Collins, Rachel Davis, Cindy Lilly, Meika Samuel Marketing: Lisa Swanger, Beth Thomas, Karen Fuss Registration: Sarah Piwinski, Holly Blair, Eugene Davis Social Media: Jessica Tipton, Hannah Sarver, Bea Calhoun Speakers and Sessions: Karen Fuss, Beth Thomas, Lisa Swanger, Carla Curran, Hannah Sarver Special Events: Robin Sheek, Leslie Sautter, Julie Cliff, Rachel Bassett Transportation: Allie Kreutzer, Nick Wallover Volunteers: Jackie Wong, Marni Friedman, Jody Evans, Bea Calhoun Youth Conference: Meghan Ward, Sean Russell Thank you to Callie VanKoughnett for logo design and Hannah Zickmund for additional graphics! |
Dear Abby...
Your trusted Auntie Abalone dishing out all of the advice
Dear Abby,
I have some sand-tastic students at my school, but I am always looking for new ways to improve my teaching skills! I love professional development, but it never happens at a convenient time in the school year! Please help! Sally the Sand Flea Well Sally, I am glad you are so enthusiatic about teaching! There are plenty of opportunities around town, and many mentioned here in this newsletter. Perhaps our readers could help provide input to our professional development providers by clicking on our survey!
Always Yours, Auntie Abby |
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Dear Abby,
I am one frustrated tuna! In my school, students are allowed to use a lot of technology! I can't stand all of the phones though while I am teaching. Maybe our readers can let me know what they do? Thanks, Technologically Tired Tuna Tired Tuna,
Understood. Let's see what our readers say. Best Fishes, Auntie Abby |
Have a question? Curious about an issue? Send it to Aunt Abby at [email protected].
Upcoming SCMEA Events
In reponse to our "So-SHELL Survey" we are excited to announce more networking events to build stronger bonds with those involved in the field of marine education! Thanks to all of the feedback starting in February we are going to have a new SCMEA tradition of monthly So-SHELL meetups! Hooray! Members and interested members-to-be are welcome! We can talk about work or not at all but hope to SEA you there!
Food and beverage available for purchase but not provided.
Food and beverage available for purchase but not provided.
Marni Friedman, President-Elect Have you ever watched a LIVE exploration dive? It’s just like a treasure hunt, you don’t know what you are going to see or if it has ever been documented before! NOAA explored deep water habitats in the Gulf of Mexico from November 19th until December 21st of 2017. At the South Carolina Aquarium we were able to live stream five of those dives in our Zucker Family Sea Turtle Recovery Theater with NOAA representatives to answer questions. Y’all, I definitely became glued to watching to see what they would find next! They discovered new fauna and collected organisms to learn more about some unusual ones. I wanted to show a few highlights from the dive and if you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to visit the website.
It is crazy to think that we still haven’t explored even half of the oceans! The NOAA expeditions are a great avenue for marine education and the data can help support management decisions for possible marine protected areas. Unfortunately even in these remote areas plastic trash is a common sighting, even 2,000 feet down on the ocean floor! Let it be a reminder to help keep our oceans clean! Keep an eye out for announcements on future community outreach events with SCMEA! Have a FISHtastic day, Marni |
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All images courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2017
Clockwise from the top left: 1. December 10th: A hermit crab (Paguroidea sp.) with an anemone that substitutes for a shell. 2. December 17th: An olive-colored empty egg case of a cartilaginous fish – either a skate, ray, or shark – attached to the octocoral, Swiftia koreni. 3. Bathypterois viridensis is one of several tripod fishes seen on the expedition thus far. They perch on their elongated fin rays and often face into the current, waiting for food to drift or swim by. These fishes have diminutive eyes; rather they use their modified fin rays as tactile organs to sense prey and predators. This individual was seen during Dive 03, in an area being referred to as “Okeanos Ridge.” All tripod fishes are thought to be synchronous hermaphrodites, meaning they have active male and active female reproductive organs at the same time. 4. A pair of Darwin slimeheads (Gephyroberyx darwini) seen under a ledge during exploration of “Long Mounds” on the West Florida Escarpment. We saw several aggregations of these fishes, which are closely related to the commercially targeted orange roughy. Although not commercially fished for in the Gulf of Mexico, this species has been used for fishmeal and fish oil in the eastern Atlantic.
Linnaeus's Creature Feature
Our Creature Feature this issue is one that with freezing temperatures made national headlines: the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis. Alligator is Spanish in origin and comes from the word for lizard, el legarto. If you say that out loud you will see the connection between the Spanish noun alongside its masculine article and our modern day English pronunciation.
While alligators are found often in the water it is important to remember that with lungs they still need to get oxygen from the air. Just like our coastal diamondback terrapins, alligators are susceptible to drowning. During recent frigid temperatures along the coast brought by winter storm Grayson, alligators at a park in Shallotte, NC exhibited some interesting survival behavior. Rather than become trapped under ice, they poked their snouts out of the surface to become frozen in place. This allowed for access to air while their metabolism slowed to a state similar to that of hibernation. Don't believe it? Check out the video here! |
Lesson Plan To-Go
Check it out below! Click or print our down-loadable pdf!
Too Dense Too Light | |
File Size: | 233 kb |
File Type: |
Meet the BoardCurrent SCMEA Officers and Board Members
President: Kendyll Collins South Carolina Aquarium [email protected] Past President: Lindsay Patterson Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission [email protected] President-Elect: Marni Friedman South Carolina Aquarium [email protected] Treasurer: Kelsey Murdaugh South Carolina Aquarium [email protected] Secretary: Jody Evans James Island Charter High School [email protected] Membership Coordinator: Hannah Sarver North Inlet- Winyah Bay NERR [email protected] NMEA Chapter Rep: Jaime Thom South Carolina Aquarium [email protected] SeaScripts Editor: Hannah Giddens Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum [email protected] Media/IT: Beatriss Calhoun SC Department of Natural Resources [email protected] Scholarships/Awards: Jackie Wong South Carolina Aquarium [email protected] Board Member At Large: Holly Blair Ashley Hall Academy [email protected] |
Want more! Join us on social media!
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New Members
Marni Friedman, President-Elect, moved to Charleston, South Carolina from Baltimore, Maryland to attend the College of Charleston and fell in love with this city! J She extended her passion for conservation through graduate school where she traveled to Belize, Namibia and Borneo to see first-hand examples of communities working together towards wildlife conservation. After ten years working in marine education, she has just fallen more in love with the field of conservation and protecting the environment! She is now pretending to be a native in South Carolina as an outreach educator with the South Carolina Aquarium and loving every second of it.
Kelsey Murdaugh,Treasurer, was born and raised in Beaufort, South Carolina, where she learned the ins and outs of marine ecosystems at a young age. Some of Kelsey’s fondest childhood memories were spent boating through the salt marsh estuaries and fresh water rivers of South Carolina. Kelsey earned a B.S. in Geology and a B.A. in History with a Business Minor from the College of Charleston in 2014. Kelsey is currently employed as an Education Interpreter at the South Carolina Aquarium, where she is able to share her passion for South Carolina marine environments with visitors from all over.
Hannah Sarver, Membership Coordinator, is the Education Specialist with the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Georgetown, SC where she leads educational field trips and outreach programs for K-12 classes focusing on watersheds and estuarine ecology. She holds a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. Her career as marine educator has provided her with great jobs working in a variety of different coastal ecosystems around the US. In Oregon she taught students about the rocky intertidal, and then made her way to Louisiana where she led school programs, teacher workshops, camps, and outreach programs on the Mississippi River Delta. She is excited to have made her way back to South Carolina and its amazing coast.
Holly Blair, Board Member at Large, has been a member of SCMEA and has spent the last 22 years, since graduating with her Masters in Marine Science Education, from the University of South Carolina, educating audiences of all ages about our delicate marine ecosystem. She has held a variety of positions in formal and informal education organizations some of which are the The South Carolina Aquarium, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (formerly the Coastal Services Center), OceanQuest, Barrier Island EcoTours, Sullivan’s Island Elementary, and is currently a 6th grade math and science teacher at Ashley Hall, in downtown Charleston. Holly has lived on or near the water her whole life and is truly passionate about educating everyone she meets about the flora, fauna, and processes which are braided inextricably and make these habitats so dynamic. She is a conservationist who strives to instill a value of stewardship in every individual she meets.
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Many Thanks for Reading!
SeaScripts Winter Edition, 2018
SCMEA
SCMEA