NEWSROOM
Ocean
Commotion Celebrates 10 Years on Oct. 25
October 15, 2007
BATON ROUGE –
More than 2,000 elementary and middle school students will help
mark a milestone when they “get their feet wet” at
the 10th Annual Ocean Commotion on Thursday, Oct. 25, at LSU’s
Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC). The hands-on, educational
fair is hosted by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.
More than 50 exhibitors,
including LSU researchers, private organizations and students
from at least two area schools, will have interactive displays
on topics ranging from coastal and marine wildlife to the preservation
of Louisiana’s wetlands.
“Ocean Commotion
exposes a lot of kids to the coast – a place many of them
have never been,” said Dianne Lindstedt, Louisiana Sea Grant
education coordinator. “The message also reaches their teachers
and chaperones. The first step in learning and caring is awareness
and knowledge. Ocean Commotion gives them that initial contact
so they can make more connections at home and in the classroom
throughout the school year. It’s a good portal to education,
science careers and stewardship.”
Public and private
schools, as well as home schoolers, have registered for this one-day
event. Students from grades 5-8 will attend the first session,
which is held from 8:45 to 10:45 a.m. The second session, held
from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will be for grades K-4. Schools must
be registered in order to attend.
Ocean Commotion, co-founded
by LSU University Relations, began as a local observance of the
United Nations’ declaration of 1998 as the International
Year of the Ocean. “For this event, I saw a nice marriage
between K-8 students and researchers,” said Pam Blanchard,
former LSG education coordinator and an organizer of the first
Ocean Commotion. “I wanted a hands-on way to show to kids
something they’re not going to see at their schools.”
Ocean Commotion was
so successful that Sea Grant and University Relations agreed to
go forward and do it again.
Many things have changed
since the first Ocean Commotion – the one-day event is now
directed exclusively by LSG and receives corporate funding from
Motiva Enterprises LLC, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Co. –
but it remains a lively, hands-on learning opportunity. Topics
extend beyond ocean-exclusive themes to subjects like coastal
marshes, Louisiana geology and wildlife. Exhibitors come from
area businesses and universities as well as government, public,
private, non-profit and educational organizations.
For more information
about Ocean Commotion, visit www.lamer.lsu.edu/projects/oceancommotion/.
Since its establishment
in 1968, Louisiana Sea Grant has worked to promote stewardship
of the state’s coastal resources through a combination of
research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural,
economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal
zone. Louisiana Sea Grant, based at LSU, is part of the National
Sea Grant College Program, a network of 32 university-based programs
in each of the U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto
Rico.
###
Ocean Commotion
Facts
- More than
23,000 kindergarten through 8th grade students have attended
since 1998.
- Since 2001,
students from Harry Hurst Middle School have brought live animals
from their classroom to teach other students.
- Since
2000, students from the St Joseph’s Academy Environmental
Club have held exhibits on water quality, the water cycle and
wetlands loss. They also aid other exhibitors, as well, by helping
OC participants plant seeds for coastal restoration and teaching
about marine mammals, invasive species and hurricane protection.
- Several
exhibits are developed and run by graduate and undergraduate
students.
- More than
50 exhibitors participate annually, including the Aquarium of
the Americas, U.S. Coast Guard, area businesses, state agencies
and researchers from LSU.
- Ocean Commotion
was started to commemorate the United Nations’ declaration
of the International Year of the Ocean in 1998.
- Motiva
Enterprises LLC is the sponsor of the event.
- Miss Louisiana
Amanda Joseph and the Estuarians will be in attendance.
- Children
are not the only ones who learn about the ocean at Ocean Commotion
– their teachers and chaperones are just as engaged in
the exhibits.
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