Four Boothbay Region Elementary School eighth grade students, Zada Smith, Maren Whitney, Kayla Latter and Marissa Peters, will be packing up their bathing suits and shorts and heading to Florida in May for a fun and educational five-day adventure.

Their computer sciences teacher, Judy Dorr, and Peters’ mother, Sarah Winchenbach, will chaperone. Dorr, who is heading up the plans, has been teaching computer technology for the last 16 years, after teaching grades three to five for 22 years.

The group will leave May 1 for the Florida Keys and Everglades.

The itinerary for the educational trip is thanks to the Splash Into Science organization. Dorr said this trip is similar to one taken last year with 12 students. The cost for each student is $2,400; after a few fundraisers, $4,000 of the nearly $13,000 goal is still needed.

Some of the money already raised has come from bottle returns, and that avenue is still open, according to Dorr. Anyone who would like to help can drop bottles off at G& J Redemption, and specify that the money goes to Splash Into Science. “It’s an easy way to donate, and last year we raised quite a bit of money this way,” Dorr said.

Dorr said the money raised has been through the bottle returns, food concessions at sports games, coupon sales for Little Caesars pizzas, and raffles. The raffles raised around $1,500, Dorr said. Local businesses, including Pinkham’s Seafood, Dead River, Thistle Inn Restaurant, Harborside Tavern, Whale’s Tale, Atlantic Edge, Robinson’s Wharf, Lisa Tilton, Hawke Motors, Sea Glass Spa, Watershed Tavern, Deborah Walder (for Mary Kay) and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens donated gift certificates and items.

Parents of the participating students had to commit to contributing any needed money that isn’t raised by the students. 

During the intense four-day program, students will learn about the ecosystems of the Everglades and visit a turtle sanctuary to see how injured or sick sea turtles are rehabilitated. They'll swim with dolphins and snorkel on a coral reef in the Florida Keys.

Dorr said the group will be Skyping with fellow students back home again this year, and doing something new: Cluster, a live-feed instant messaging system. “You can post videos and photos to the people we invite to join the group, so that parents and classrooms can see what we’re doing instantaneously.” They will also live-stream through Facebook.

Anyone who would like to donate money can send a check to BRES, (Splash into Science), 238 Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.