Wednesday, September 08, 1999Shark feeding a hit on aquarium student tour
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati EnquirerNEWPORT — Oceanic Adventures Newport Aquarium kicked off its education program Tuesday with a shark feeding that enthralled students.
Mildred Dean Elementary fifth-grader Patrick Allen of Newport had already visited the aquarium six times, but he said his seventh visit Tuesday was nothing like the others.
“The sharks were awesome,” Patrick said after he and his classmates — joined by students from another Newport school, A.D. Owens, and students from Cincinnati's Vine Street Elementary — watched senior aquatic biologist and shark expert Linda Hanna feed large pieces of fish to a group of hungry, circling sharks.
The shark feeding, viewed by the students through the large glass area in the aquarium's Pirate's Theater, was the highlight of the first official student tour for the nonprofit Aquarium Institute's education department.
Christine Kohrs, another
Mildred Dean fifth-grader, said she was impressed with the shark feeding but also enjoyed being able to walk over plexiglass areas where fish were swimming under her feet.
Her classmate Deena Gabbard said the tour was educational for her because “I learned that sharks aren't really as mean and dangerous as they seem to be in the movies.”
Brad Stamper, president of Fifth Third Bank's Northern Kentucky operation, presented a $300,000 corporate gift for the program and announced an essay contest sponsored by the bank with the topic “Save Our Waterways.”
Students are invited to write an essay — 100 words for grades 1-4, 500 words for grades 5-8, and 1,000 words for 9-12 — on the subject and return it by Sept. 30 to any Fifth Third bank branch or to the aquarium.
First prize in each age group is a $1,000 bank account and a Party with the Sharks at the aquarium.
“We think the opportunity for learning at the aquarium is limitless,” Mr. Stamper said. “Our challenge as corporate citizens and as a community is to ensure that everyone, particularly our students, take full advantage of all the aquarium has to offer.”
Mildred Dean fifth-grade teacher Bill Patrick said he was impressed with what his students saw and their reaction: “I think all the kids really enjoyed the visit, and I hope they learned some things.”
Sherri Higginbotham, aquarium education manager, said the educational possibilities of the facility will be shaped by the sponsorships, private and corporate, that the Aquarium Institute receives. Some 30,000 area students and teachers have already signed up for education tours.
“We want to have classrooms and lecture facilities, and have students doing experiments and conducting research,” she said. “Eventually we want to be able to do field trips and develop an outreach program to visit schools.”
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