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On May 1st 2013, 110 kindergarteners from Young School, in Saco, Maine, visited the 91ֱ����Ƶ’s Marine Science Center. James Sulikowski, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Marine Sciences, and his band of undergraduate and graduate students, engaged the youngsters in a variety of hands-on marine activities. 

First-year master’s students Ryan Knotek and Connor Capizzano taught the children about the sensory biology of sharks; third-year master’s student Bianca Prohaska and undergraduate Tara Boag ’14, gave a lesson on shark jaw and body shape; Liese Carleton ‘14 and Carolyn Wheeler ‘15 manned the intertidal touch tank; third-year master’s student Amy Carlson and Kayla Smith ‘13 played a larval fish identification game with the kids; and first-year master’s student Laura Whitefleet-Smith and Joe Langan ’15, introduced the children to the shark and skate touch tank.

The kindergarteners spent 90 minutes in small groups interacting and learning about these marine organisms.  Dr.  Peter Harrison, the principal of Young School, who visited the Marine Science Center as well, commented that "the experience for our kindergarten students was awesome!  The 91ֱ����Ƶstudents were very impressive.  I enjoyed talking with a Joe Langan about his work relative to the cod population in the Gulf of Maine. I was thinking to myself, as he shared his work with enthusiasm, how fortunate we are to have a new generation of scientists committed to preserving our environment.”

The Marine Science Center and the Sulikowski lab hope to continue these activities with Young School and other up-and-coming marine scientists.