Community Service

In the development of Canterbury's Marine Studies program, it was important to include community service to enhance the learning opportunities beyond the classroom.  Students can participate in coastal clean-up efforts, mark storm drains, create oyster bar habitats, grow native plants in the school garden or plant sea oats at Pinellas County's Ft. DeSoto Park. 

Multiple organizational resources are available to share their broad base of knowledge, from Tampa Bay Watch to the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida and Eckerd College. Each project provides a greater understanding of the environmental impact on the marine ecosystem.  Community service also creates hands-on experiences, which in turn foster an appreciation of the wonders and variety of marine life in a coastal community. 

Canterbury awarded another grant!

The Tampa Bay Water Source Water Protection grant will provide an additional $5,000 in funding to add to our existing Water Wise project. This year between Southwest Florida Water Management Mini-grant and this new grant, Canterbury has $10,000 in funding towards water resource education.

The proposed project will be completed by middle school students as a continuation of the previous year's Water Wise project. The direct objective of Water Wise II is to continue to enhance students', educators', and parents' understanding of the importance of local water quality and water conservation with sustainability in mind.

Having gained a solid foundation of water wise concepts last year, this year students will apply their knowledge to new projects. In the classroom the Enviroscape Watershed/Nonpoint Source Model and the EnviroScape® Coastal Model will be a key tool for learning. Students will use the hands-on models to discover and study the effects of point source and nonpoint source of pollution, drinking water, waste water, and best management practices in watersheds.

In additional to classroom activities, the middle school students will learn these concepts by taking field trips to a desalination plant and a water treatment plant, installing a solar still, creating an organic garden and hydroponic garden, and maintaining an aquaculture tank for tilapia. Students will also participate in several local waterway cleanups to promote local environmental stewardship.

The final goal of the proposed project is to have the students document the various activities and create a media presentation at the end of the year. The grants allow the school to purchase a video camera for creating these media productions. This presentation will be shared with the school community, other schools and posted on the Internet to spread awareness.

Canterbury School of Florida received special recognition from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). Because of our efforts to help students learn to protect water resources, we have been selected to receive a "Partners in Watershed Education Award".

These awards are for outstanding projects performed during the last two years. Middle school students designed, planted and maintained a native garden that is still flourishing today. They also hosted a water wise fair and created water conservation presentations.