Thanks to a generous donation from the Ocean Reef Community Foundation, the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium is giving students a Passport to Education. At-risk Title 1 elementary students in Homestead, Florida City and Key Largo schools will be able to participate in educational opportunities to engage their curiosity in science.
Each spring, the Ocean Reef Community Grants Program awards grants to dozens of worthy charities in the areas of education, youth, health and family services, and community at Ocean Reef and in Homestead, Florida City and the Upper Keys. Including 2017 grants, the program will have awarded more than $6.1 million since the All Charities collaboration began in 2008.
The $25,000 grant awarded to the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium will fund programs that send its educators into elementary school classrooms for live science demos and hands-on activities such as liquid nitrogen demonstrations and make-your-own slime experiments.
“Our mission is to ‘open every mind to science,’ and this gives us the chance to reach children who might not otherwise get the opportunity to be exposed to experiments,” said Lew Crampton, president and CEO of the Science Center.
“We are grateful to the Ocean Reef Community Foundation for granting us this chance to change young lives. We hope to inspire the next generation of scientists and thinkers.”
On display now at the Science Center is Astronaut, the latest blockbuster exhibit that immerses visitors in life on the International Space Station.
The mission of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium is to “open every mind to science” and the indoor/outdoor venue features more than 100 hands-on educational exhibits, a 10,000 gallon fresh and salt water aquarium featuring both local and exotic marine life; a digital planetarium; conservation research station; Florida exhibit hall; pre-K focused “Discovery Center;” an interactive Everglades exhibit, and the 18-hole Conservation Course, an outdoor putting course with science-focused education stations.
For more information on Science Center programming, call 561-832-1988 or visit www.sfsciencecenter.org.
