Boothbay Sea and Science Center (BSSC) in East Boothbay hosted just over 60 students, teachers and faculty of South Bristol School (SBS), pre-K through eighth grade, for a first-of-its-kind whole school field trip Sept. 18.

“Of course, we host kids all summer, and we’ve brought in teachers, families, and classrooms, but not a whole school before – but these are the grade levels that participate in the Center in the summertime. So, it makes sense,” said Pauline Dion, BSSC’s president and executive director. “And SBS math and science teacher Jason Bigonia is in our seaweed farming program, so the connection with the school is not completely random,” she said.

Students arrived by bus, with sack lunches and excitement. “We definitely want to get our hands on some creatures and do some tide pooling –  that seems to be a great interest to the kids and learning about conservation, which is an integral part of what they do here,” said Debra Thibodeau, SBS  guidance counselor. “They have great arts and crafts planned for us, and we have some very artsy kids in our group. I can’t wait to see what they produce.”

Art activities included decorating oyster shells and making jellyfish. Each activity came with discussions of the importance of these sea creatures to our environment. Students then took that fresh knowledge to the tidepools, where they saw the creatures that make these ecosystems their home. This touches on one of BSSC’s core goals: to enrich the science and engineering curriculum at local public schools and enhance learning opportunities for students by providing access to science, technology, engineering and math-focused experiential education activities and programs; it's one of the primary reasons BSSC is interested in hosting more schools.

“This past spring, we had Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library come tide pooling, and we offered some activities during April vacation. Our outreach is very important to us, and so we really welcome the schools to contact us, we welcome the collaborations,” said Dion.

For Natasha Domina, SBS third/fourth grade teacher, the learning objective is “to get the kids connected to the area that they live in.” The field trip to BSSC is the kick-off of Marine Week for SBS, an ocean-themed series of studies and activities including another field trip to Maine Maritime Museum, a lecture on whales accompanied by a gym-sized inflatable whale for playing and the week concludes with a sea shanty singing group.