Canterbury Students Share Their Appreciation of St. Petersburg's Landmarks, Culture

ST. PETERSBURG - From the Salvador Dali Museum to Tropicana Field, second-graders from the Canterbury School of Florida recently visited local landmarks to learn about the vibrant culture in the St. Petersburg area.

The youngsters then presented projects, titled the "St. Pete Experience," which showed their knowledge and appreciation of the St. Petersburg area.

Destinations included: the Trop, the Dali, Weedon Island Preserve, Derby Lane, St. Pete Shuffleboard Club, Sunken Gardens, Albert Whitted Airport, the Don Cesar resort, Pass-a-Grill, the Sunshine Skyway, Coney Island Grill, the Vinoy Resort, and the Chihuly Museum.

Students collected research materials, wrote a report and gave a brief talk about their learning experience. They recreated the "St. Pete Experience" for students and "tourist" visitors to the Hough Campus.

The Albert Whitted booth had paper airplanes for visitors. Visitors to the Dali Museum booth received a fake mustache. The Sunken Gardens booth offered flowers, and Coney Island visitors received a coupon for a free hot dog at the restaurant.

“This is such a great project,” said Peter Barlas of Coney Island Grill. “We don’t advertise at all so our business is mostly word of mouth. It’s great to share our love of chili dogs and milkshakes with a new, young audience. I feel honored to have met this young lady here. She’s done a great job explaining the history and culture of our restaurant, which has been in St. Pete since 1926.”

“We live in an amazing, booming community, so full of arts and adventure,” said Pam Kemper, the second-grade teacher who assigned the project. “I wanted the students to get out there and discover something new, then come back and share it."

Canterbury's Hough Campus is located on Snell Isle. Canterbury is a preparatory school based on two campuses in St. Petersburg.