​We have been prepping for the camps coming up after the 4th of July. The excitement level is through the roof as we are getting the activities ready for Camp Summer Scientist Career Spotlight: Marine Biologist camp. A lot of fun science is in store for our campers. We look forward to seeing what they create during camp as they learn about marine ecosystems.
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In other exciting news our department has worked on a settling plate rack for BioDiscovery for a little while now and launched it today, June 28th! BioDiscovery is a program created through collaboration between Charleston County Parks and Recreation along with SC Sea Grant Consortium and Patriots Point is proud to be an official hub. These plates will collect organisms that land and subsequently grow attached to substrate, and they will ultimately attract more animals. Things we expect to see are barnacles, anemones and sea squirts. This “biorack” attached to our education dock will be getting checked on regularly. Once organisms start growing, we will be viewing them under a dissecting microscope. It will be interesting to see what is there. 

   The 8th annual teacher’s conference was held on Tuesday June 11th and Wednesday the 12th. Teachers got to stay aboard the USS Yorktown and attend workshops during the day. We had a blast working with teachers from all over South Carolina and are already looking forward to the next conference. On Thursday the 13th we worked alongside of SCDNR on an oyster reef build. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped us out! We finished the week trying up the loose ends of summer camp prep.
   On Monday June 17th summer camp was full steam ahead! We welcomed around 40 campers for the week. The theme of this camp was animals. All of the activities had to do with how different animals move, eat and live. The first day we explored the world of reptiles and enjoyed an activity on habitats. Throughout the rest of the week activities included echolocation, animal print casting and animal movement. Campers also explored the ship and surrounding USS Laffy and USS Clamagore. We have three more camps this summer and can’t wait!
                 

​   With school being out, a minor makeover in the wet lab is underway. The process of giving it a new look has begun; we are very excited to see the end results! Come and check it when it’s completed.  In addition to the wet lab changes we are preparing for our teacher’s conference next week and the department is definitely staying busy.
  We had a very special event that gave us a break from the wet lab and teacher’s conference prep. The 75th anniversary of D-day was on Thursday June 6th; we had nine World War II Veterans onboard. They shared their stories about what they saw and had a meet and greet. Visitors obtained these wonderful men’s autographs and heard from them one on one. The event was great and made lasting impressions on everyone.
  Further exciting news, in our office we have a new summer intern from College of Charleston starting today. We are thrilled to welcome Taia into the group. The department is looking forward to working with her this summer!