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CITY KIDS STUDY THE SEA
By Bayard Stern
Associate editor, Florida State Times
Ten eighth graders - five from Harlem and five from north Florida - spent a week together this summer on the Gulf of Mexico, learning about marine biology, the environment and what it takes to be a scientist.
One student from New York summed up nicely the differences down south.
"It's fun here," said Elizabeth "Lizzy" Ryan, 13. "When I'm at home in Harlem, it's dangerous so I don't really go out. Here you can go out. You can do anything you want like looking for fishes or crabbing."
The idea of bringing Harlem eighth graders to the FSU Marine Lab at Turkey Point - and the money that made it happen - came from Judy Lotas, a partner in a Manhattan advertising agency and a 1964 graduate of Florida State.
"When I heard about Saturday at the Sea, I thought it would be great to send some kids down to the Gulf," Lotas said. "I was raised in Panama City, and I love the area."
Chuck Bowling, director of the camp, said the camp has several purposes.
"Science and biology are all about discovering and exploring and asking questions," he said. "We want to educate and help these young students recognize some of their own potential as scientists, to demonstrate to them that science isn't just about learning dry facts from a book and answering review questions. I think the camp does a good job of that."
The New York kids may live in a tough neighborhood, but they already have a start at a superior education. They attend the Children's Storefront, a 32-year-old school organized by a poet named Ned O'Gorman who teaches his pupils Greek and Shakespeare. The school started as a neighborhood pre-school inside a battered Harlem storefront. Today it is a private, tuition-free academy from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
Lotas raises money for the Harlem school. She has also donated $2,500 to help with camp expenses and paid the airfare for the kids and teachers to come to Florida.
"I can't wait to hear from the kids themselves," Lotas said. "I know they all had fun, and we are trying to make this happen every year." Bowling agrees that the camp should be annual.
"It would be a crime to let this camp not happen again," he said.
Lotas's goal is a permanent Harlem-North Florida mix of young scientists at camp.
"The state of Florida will kick in $50,000 if we can raise $100,000," she said. "And that would be enough to make the program permanent and happen every year."
For more information or to make a donation, call Judy Lotas at 212/333-5676 or Chuck Bowling at 850/644-9828.