Pier Aquarium Announces Summer Camp Scholarships

Contact: Emily Stehle, APR
(727) 803-9799, ext. 207
cell (727) 688-7993
estehle@pieraquarium.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PIER AQUARIUM ANNOUNCES SUMMER CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS

St. Petersburg, FL (May 31, 2011) -- The Pier Aquarium has a limited number of scholarships for five summer camps, thanks to a grant from Publix Super Markets Charities. Applicants must demonstrate a financial need based on enrollment in a Free/Reduced meals program at school. Documentation is required with the application.

Scholarships are available for five camps.  The deadline for application is Friday, June 10.

For kids entering first or second grade:

• July 18-22: Aquatic Art

For kids entering 4-6th grade:

• June 13-17: Marine Explorers
• June 20-24: Estuary Explorers
•  June 27-July 1: Sea Scientists
• July 18-22: Ocean Art
  

Information and the scholarship application form can be found at: www.pieraquarium.org/2011sma

For more information about summer camp and scholarships, please contact Jaclyn Mousoulias, interim education and public outreach coordinator, jmousoulias@pieraquarium.org or phone (727) 895-7437, ext. 205.

Registration for the Summer Marine Adventures camps can be done by fax or phone! Application for the camps is at www.pieraquarium.org.2011sma.

Members who have a Family of Four membership (Family of Four membership is $50) receive discounted summer camp registration. The family will receive a 10% discount off the first camp and 20% for each additional camp.

The schedule starts June 13-17 with a half-day camp for Little Marine Explorers, ages 5-7, and ends Aug. 8-12 with the full-day Life without Bones camp for kids 8-10.

ABOUT THE PIER AQUARIUM

The Pier Aquarium, established in 1988, is a private, non-profit aquarium and marine education center located in downtown St. Petersburg, FL at The Pier. It showcases 17 tanks of live fish and other marine life and educational exhibits on the first and second floors and an outdoor marine laboratory and teaching unit, the Roy G. Harrell, Jr. Education Station, located on the Pier approach.

Its mission is to enhance the public’s understanding of the value and fragility of the local and global marine environment through research, education and personal experiences. The Pier Aquarium serves as the "public face” for the St. Petersburg Ocean Team’s research, innovation and technology. The Ocean Team is a consortium of 13 marine science and oceanographic institutions and environmental research agencies in the Southeast and one of the top such industry clusters in the nation.

More than 85,500 visitors, including 25,000 who participate in our scheduled educational programs, come to The Pier Aquarium to attend and participate in our 1-4pm daily Touch Tank Experience and Fish Feeding, our first Saturday of the month Book Nook family programs, the annual Spa Beach Splash free marine discovery day and Summer Marine Adventures summer camp. Volunteers contribute more than 4,600 hours each year.

The Pier Aquarium has announced an expansion to a 11,500 sq. ft. facility called the Marine Discovery Center & Aquarium and its intent to move to John’s Pass Village at Madeira Beach, Florida by the end of December 2012.

 ###