Sand and Shells: A Winter Coastal Ecology Workshop for Teachers

"This was one of the best workshops I have ever attended. Thank you for all your hard work and planning!"

-2010 Teacher Workshop Participant

Last weekend, 6 teachers attended a winter coastal ecology workshop here at the MSC. After a morning of instruction, teachers donned their layers and headed to Wallops Island to make shell collections for their classroom. Wallops sparkled in the December sun. The bounty of shells on the beach was almost overwhelming: knobbed and channeled whelks piled above the wrack line, ponderous arks, channeled ducks, oysters, Atlantic surf clams, and Atlantic moon snails scattered around in quantities the teachers had never seen before. We found two moon jellies, and although their bodies were mostly desiccated, they had left beautiful radiating impressions of their internal structure in the sand. Sanderlings skittered about, dodging waves in unison and probing the sand for small invertebrate delicacies.

After loading their shell-collecting boxes (and arms!) with shells, teachers returned to the Consortium for lunch and an afternoon exploring the biology and natural history of the invertebrates that used to inhabit the shells they had collected. We finished the afternoon off with a round-table and brainstorming session about how the Marine Science Consortium can better serve teachers.

We've already started brainstorming on how to implement teachers' suggestions! Coastal Ecology Treasure boxes we can lend to schools, high school internships, teacher internships, and week-long summer workshops.

Thanks to the teachers who attended, and thanks to all the MSC staff who helped out!

Chilly Trawls and Windswept Beaches

Wrapping up fall and moving to winter at MSC

The fall program season is wrapping up at the Marine Science Consortium, but exciting programs and projects remain active across campus.

Most of our seasonal marine science educators have departed for the year. They were a wonderfully fun, hard-working and intelligent staff, and we miss them already. As a final project they worked tirelessly between teaching groups to perfect our lobby display tank, which is now up and running.

University field trips concluded last weekend with a student led field excursion for the Kutztown Marine Science Club, which included a morning of trawls in Cockle Creek and an afternoon beach clean-up on Wallops Island. The weekend was rounded out by dawn to dusk fieldwork for a group of Garrett College dendrology students.

The new college residence hall construction is well under way, scheduled for completion mid-winter. The building will be ready to offer *heat* for our early spring classes and *AC* for late spring and summer students!!

Our last busy week of programs kicks-off this weekend, with a Digital Nature and Photography Workshop, followed by a 2-day Coastal Ecology Program for homeschoolers, and project work for student volunteers from Fryeburg Academy.

We look forward to our first winter in new buildings, where things will still slow down as they did in the past, but neither our ability to host programs nor our fingers typing at our computers will freeze entirely!

New programs at MSC

MSC will be hosting a free day-long coastal ecology workshop and focus group for teachers on Saturday, Dec. 4th from 8:00AM-4:30PM. Spend the morning learning about barrier islands ecology first-hand as you explore Wallops Island. Create nature journals, learn how to identify common shells and invertebrates of the area and, in the process, make your own classroom shell collection. During the afternoon, create hands-on sand and shells activities that you can bring back to your classrooms. The day will end with a short round-table discussion about how MSC can better serve schools. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. Registration is first-come, first-serve and is limited to 25. To register, please call Anne Schlesinger at (757) 824-5636 or e-mail her at progmanager@msconsortium.org.

We are also excited to begin offering a Shore to You outreach program for elementary, middle and high-school teachers and students beginning Dec. 1^st, 2010. MSC educators will travel to schools across the Delmarva Peninsula to explore coastal ecology with students using hands-on activities and interactive lessons. Teachers can choose from eight focus areas within Coastal Ecology: Waves and Tides, Plants and Sand Dunes, Sand and Shells, Maritime Forest, Watersheds, Fish, Invertebrates, and Human Impacts.

Autumn on Assateague

Migration has started! What an exciting time to be living near Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We've been seeing green and blue-winged teals on the Wildlife Loop for around a month now, and last week, we started seeing snow geese!

Back to the fall…

After our successful our open house, it was right back to business at the MSC. The first school group of the fall arrived on Sunday for a fun-filled week of coastal ecology. They were the first students to use our brand new labs and I’m sure they would agree that they were great! We had some fantastic trawls aboard our research vessels, terrific seines in the intertidal zone on Assateague, excellent finds on the dunes at the beach at Wallops Island and many unforgettable moments in the marsh mud. After such a great week, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next group!

More on Mo

Even though he is already greatly missed, we are very excited that Mo (the MSC’s resident moray eel) has found a new home at the New England Aquarium. After eleven years at the MSC, Mo was transferred on August 23, 2010. He was driven overnight to Boston to ensure he would not overheat on the journey. Regular stops were made in order to check temperature and oxygen levels in his travel tank.

After nine hours, Mo finally arrived in Boston and was transferred to a holding tank where he is being quarantined for a month. At the end of the month, Mo will be transferred to the New England Aquarium’s Giant Ocean Tank. This tropical exhibit is 23 feet deep, 40 feet wide and holds 200,000 gallons of water. Mo will share his new home with more than 600 animals including 4 other green morays, sea turtles, sand tiger sharks, sting rays and an array of reef fishes.

Mo the Moray Update

Mo has moved to the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA to become a
resident of their Giant Ocean Tank. For those of you who are fortunate
enough to have visited the aquarium, this is the massive 200,000 gallon tank that the staircase spirals around in the center of the aquarium.
Although we will miss him, we are confident he will love his new reef
home.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, help and assistance in finding a place for our longtime fishy friend!!

Digging up the past

While in the process of constructing The Marine Science Consortium's future, we have also had the opportunity to learn more about its past. For the past month, staff have been busy going through three decades of files in preparation for moving our offices and labs to the new administrative building. We have come up with some treasures: the first field manuals, descriptions of old programs, and, best of all in my opinion, old photographs. These photographs from the inception of MSC school and college programs tell the tale of a 32-year long quest to imbue learners of all ages with enthusiasm for the marine sciences and nature in general. As we move forward, this goal will continue to anchor our programs.

Camper creations

Summer's Here!

The sun is coming up bright and early, the wood thrushes are singing, and the fireflies are glowing in the fields at dusk. Which can only mean one thing. It’s summer! This week, school programs have made way for our series of summer camps. Our Top Ocean Predator and Marine Biology campers arrived Sunday for a week of fun and education. So far, they’ve had the opportunity to go on a research cruise to trawl for marine organisms, take a trip to the zoo, and more! Alongside these camp programs, we continue to host summer college classes for our member universities. And Thursday marks the start of our Family Camp!

The Return of the Hats

You've waited three looong, seemingly endless years, made speculations, offered suggestions, remained patient and finally the day has arrived -

MSC hats have returned to the Ship's Store!

Check out the Oyster Catcher collector's hat and other MSC store merchandise on your next visit to the Marine Science Consortium.

Passion and Enthusiasm

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." - Hebbel

"There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment." - Norman Vincent Peale

Two truer things have never been said. When I hear complements for our education staff they usually begin, "The staff really love what they do/teach" (passion) "and they show it." (enthusiasm). Passion and Enthusiasm are key ingredients in the creation of anything great. The Marine Science Consortium and its programs are no exception.

When I read accounts of the early days of MSC, I am always struck by the unbounded enthusiasm shown by the founders. "Let's start a marine science field station!" they said. "We'll figure it out as we go along." And they did. Find a boat? Sure! Need a facility? Here's one we can use. Need to make WWII era Naval housing into classrooms, cafeteria, labs, and offices? No problem. Only passion and enthusiasm could possibly produce the creativity and can-do attitude that it took to make all that happen.

Fast forward 40 years. MSC is still here, still offering exceptional field-based educational opportunities and still inspiring passion for subject and place in its participants and students. We made it to 2010 through the hard work of many, MANY people who have given of themselves because of their passion for this place and the work it does. As we enter the next phase of The Marine Science Consortium's life, I'm again struck by how passion and enthusiasm continue to play their roles in our organization. Certainly, our Board of Directors had to have passion and enthusiasm for what MSC is (and can be) to commit such a brave act as finding and backing a $15 million bond for MSC's campus revitalization. It is obvious how much they want MSC to succeed, to thrive, and to offer outstanding educational opportunities.

Our university faculty show enthusiasm and passion every time they give up a weekend to bring students down for a field experience or spend 3 weeks away from home and family to teach a summer course. That enthusiasm may also be caught in action, such as in the above image of Dr. Dagit, Millersville University, smooching a shark. Teachers bringing students for a three day experience in our Coastal Ecology Program have to be enthusiastic to maneuver through the many field trip pitfalls and hurdles. Lastly, students,whether they are volunteering their time during a service weekend, as in the photo above, or taking three back to back intense summer courses, are about as passionate as they come.

Enthusiasm and Passion are MSC's fuel. Just as in a car, we must have them to run, the more we have the farther we can go, and the bigger we get the more we need. So to all our staff, faculty, teachers, participants, Board members, founders, and friends I say, keep pouring that enthusiasm and passion our way. We'll work hard to find the best routes to our future that will use the fuel you give us efficiently and that bring in new friends and partners, so that we always have sources of new energy to add to yours.

Snow geese on the wing

A winter's walk around the Wildlife Loop in Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge often reveals scenes of such wonder that all a watcher can do is stand mutely by and try to absorb it. Recently a few friends and I had such a moment as we watched a large flock of snow geese continuously lift up, circle round, and set back down on Snow Goose Pool. This behavior was soon explained by the appearance of two mature bald eagles who proceeded to buzz the flock of geese over and over again. Each time the entire flock would lift, circle, and set back down all the while conversing as only snow geese can. While I'm not a believer in anthropomorphizing animals, I couldn't help imagining one eagle saying to the other "Hey, watch me do that again!".

These geese, along with thousands of others that winter on the Eastern Shore, wing their way over the MSC campus throughout the winter days as they venture to farm fields for dropped grain and grasses. Their distinctive calls bring me often to the office window to watch the long skeins of geese stretching across the winter sky. Sometimes I can only hear their muffled calls as they fly high above clouds. They are a reminder of the wonderful, wild nature still left on the Eastern Shore.