Students get feel for Louisiana’s coastal habitat
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An estimated 2,000 middle and elementary school students descended upon a coastal wonderland Thursday inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where “please touch” zones enticed many to pet a live ball python, an alligator, snapping turtle and other creatures.
“I’m in an ocean world,” said Catherine Henning, 9, of The Runnels School, who brushed her hand across a dead, 2-foot bull shark held on a platform cooled by ice.
Henning was among the students visiting the 12th annual Ocean Commotion, a hands-on educational fair hosted by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program at LSU.
Roy Kron, communications director for Louisiana Sea Grant College, said about 2,000 students attended the one-day event.
The hands-on interactive exhibits encouraged students to touch live, stuffed or preserved animals. “I think it’s really amazing, plus they let you touch a lot of things,” said Sara Brandenburg, 10, of The Runnels School.
About 65 exhibitors, including LSU researchers, marine biologists, private organizations and students from four schools, showcased topics ranging from coastal and marine wildlife to the preservation of Louisiana’s wetlands to studying satellite images of Gulf of Mexico currents.
University Terrace Elementary fourth-grader Maria Elias got some lessons on how to protect animal marine life after visiting a Baton Rouge Community College interactive exhibit that encouraged children to cut up soft drink six-pack rings and use them to create wearable art such as necklaces. Cutting the rings can protect pelicans, turtles and fish from becoming tangled, leaving them unable to eat or swim, Maria said.
When Taelah Ellsworth, 9, of Glen Oaks Park Elementary, strung together 11 multi-colored beads onto a necklace, JoAnne Burke, educational coordinator for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, quizzed her about her creation. “What is it telling you? We have 11 lines of defense to protect us from hurricanes and each color on your necklace represents a defense,” she told Ellsworth. Flood gates, levees, barrier islands and even highways are among the defense barriers used to protect people, Burke said.
Other students planted seedlings to help restore Louisiana’s coast. “We really have to save our coast and oceans,” said Dominique Nash, 13, of St. Francis Xavier. “It’s easy to pollute, but it’s hard to clean it up.”
A 10-foot-by-12-foot-wide inflatable “ocean biome” created by members of LSU’s oceanography department held 9-year-old Aynsley Gaspard’s attention. “It was really dark. We saw whales, jelly fish and black smoke,” she said.
About a hundred St. Joseph’s Academy students, including Alex Gaudin, 15, helped run interactive booths.
“The students are taking a lot of interest and asking a lot of questions,” she said. “I had a chance to visit Ocean Commotion in middle school and it helped me understand that what is happening to our coast and to our marine life is real.
“And the exhibitors tell you how to help,” she said.
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