Vote to Help the Manatees!

ST. PETERSBURG – Canterbury School students are raising baby redfish for marine aquaculture, growing sea vegetables to feed injured manatees recovering at Lowry Park and helping restore coastal wetlands.

But they need help to get their work done. It's easy. All you need is a cellphone or PC to do it.

The Canterbury School of Florida is in the running to win up to $50,000 in grants to fund a Marine Studies initative to give the students tools to help restore the Tampa Bay Estuary.

From Oct. 24-Dec. 9, adults and children 13 and older are invited to visit www.PowerABrightFuture.com and vote for the Canterbury proposal to help clean coastal areas and enable Tampa Bay wildlife to thrive.  

New this year to the Power A Bright Future contest, neighbors, friends and family can now vote for their favorite school right from their phones via text message. Just text clorox7724 to 44144.

The Marine Studies program at Canterbury is a school-wide program, focusing on all aspects of marine science and environmental education. The program works closely with another school, Academy Prep. Students collaborate on the projects to promote peer-to-peer education. 

The program has four main projects: redfish aquaculture, wetland restoration, manatee rehabilitation, and ocean current monitoring. 

Students learn about science, take fieldtrips, collect data, provide environmental service, and educate others.

While these projects are helping to restore Tampa Bay Estuary and educating students, many of the projects are under funded and could be expanded.

"Our program wants to be able to make a difference in the world and we can do this by getting students outside in nature, involved in research projects, and carrying out service learning," said Marine Sciences Director Jenna Cummings of the Canterbury School of Florida.
 
The grant would provide the technology for students to track data, research, and share information all with one touch on an ipad. The redfish aquafarm project would add several new tanks. The manatee rehabilitation project would involve growing lettuce that injured manatees are fed while they recover at Lowry Park.

• The program that receives the highest number of votes will be awarded the $50,000 grand-prize grant.
•  The next top vote-getters in the Play, Create and Explore categories will each be awarded a $25,000 grant.
• Clorox’s judging panel, will select one additional school to win a $25,000 judge’s choice grant.