Shorecrest School

Shorecrest Awarded Grant for Underwater Robots

Source/Author: Rachel Martin, Director of Marketing & Communications
April 29, 2016
Middle School News


Dr. Anna Baralt, Director of Educational Technology, and Kathryn Jeakle, eighth grade Marine Science teacher, have been awarded a 2016 DeWitt E. & Vera M. Hooker Fellowship grant. The $1,500 award will fund the purchase of and training for underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) to augment and enhance the eighth grade Coastal Awareness Program. The Coastal Awareness Program (CAP) exposes students to the natural environment in which they live with the final goal of creating educated citizens who understand the important role they play in caring for their surroundings.

Currently, the CAP Program engages students in maintaining salt marsh grasses on campus and then transplanting them into the Bay as part of a coastal restoration project with Tampa Bay Watch. In addition to working with bay grasses, students serve as naturalists with the goal of learning some of the common species in the area as well as collect water quality data at the 54th Avenue Channel that sits on the north border of our school. The CAP program hopes to instill values in our students while involving them in real-life science.

The FCIS Hooker Grant will fund the creation of an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) program to explore the waterways near the school, to allow for the collection of additional environmental data, and to further build support for our involvement in the CAP program. The ROV component will add increased problem solving, planning, and designing aspects to the CAP program. It will also engage students in hands-on construction and use of the ROVs, help students understand real-world implications and uses of these tools, as well as expose students to ocean STEM career opportunities and increase interest in STEM fields.


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