Moody High School/Texas State Aquarium South Texas Oyster Restoration and Awareness (STORA)
Issue: Environmental Responsibility
Grant Amount: $30,280.00
Corpus Christi, TX
Year Funded: 2011
Organization: Texas State Aquarium
Contact Information
Auburn Buehring
Education Projects Manager
Texas State Aquarium
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.texasstateaquarium.org
The Moody High School STORA program is a student-led service learning project modeled after the Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi oyster-recycling program, and whose aim is to construct and rebuild oyster habitats with recycled shells. The four students who lead this program attend various community events in order to educate and promote awareness of the vital functions that oysters serve in marine environments. Funds awarded from the State Farm YAB grant would be used by the students to promote, market, and increase the scope of a combined, collaborative project (comprised of Moody HS, Texas State Aquarium, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) in order to increase the community’s participation in oyster shell recycling and also in the construction and restoration of oyster reefs in local waters.
Oysters serve a multitude of vital and beneficial purposes to marine ecosystems but also face many threats. Oysters provide a high-quality habitat for numerous fishes, shrimps, and crabs, and also filter and clean bay waters by removing plankton, sediments, heavy metals, bacteria and other ‘wastes.’ Oyster reefs also protect shorelines from erosion and mitigate storm surge. Thus, oysters play essential direct and indirect roles on the region’s economy. The oyster recycling program reclaims oyster shells from restaurants and returns them to various placement areas in Copano Bay, TX near Goose Island State Park for the purpose of creating and restoring oyster habitats. The students’ efforts will connect the local community to the importance of oysters, and contribute directly to habitat restoration.
Project Updates
April 28th, 2012
Oyster Restoration Event #2
The STORA team, Texas State Aquarium, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and the Harte Research Institute participated in the second oyster restoration at Goose Island State Park. The large group created 480 bags of oyster shells that were placed into the bay to allow for "spat" (baby oysters) to find a place to live and to build a new oyster bed.
Bag Up!
Hold Up!
Pile Up!
Suit up!
Let's play "Pass the Oysters!"
April 28th, 2012
Howdy Daze Festival
Howdy Daze is a local festival presented by the Coastal Community and Teachers Credit Union in appreciation of its patrons. The STORA team was on hand to do crafts, face painting, and promoting oyster awareness. The oyster even did a little dance with dance troop Quantum Evolution. We saw around 500 people between 10am-2pm.
April 21, 2012
EarthDay/BayDay
The STORA team participated in the EarthDay/BayDay celebration at Heritage Park. The festival had about 7,650 visitors! Our booth was busy all day with kids lining up to make oysters and parents interested in what exactly happens at an oyster restoration event. Speaking of oyster restoration events our next one is planned for this Saturday, April 28th at Goose Island. We look forward to posting more pictures next week!
April 11, 2012
Outreach to the Prescott Elementary Science Club
Five members of the STORA Team visited a nearby elementary school to teach them about the importance of oysters. The after school science club had six students that participated. They played a tag game about how parasites can spread easily in an oyster bed, and how restoring the beds is so important to the growth of healthy oysters. Then the students did a craft where they created an oyster to take home. We took a group picture around the oyster van and the students had fun dressing up in the oyster costume.
March 12, 2012
Media Link
Tune in to our nice media coverage of the oyster restoration event out at Goose Island!http://www.kristv.com/news/volunteers-recycle-oyster-shells/
March 10, 2012
Oyster Restoration #1: Goose Island State Park
In one of our biggest events of the year Moody High School, Texas State Aquarium, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi and the Harte Research Institute hosted our first oyster restoration event on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at Goose Island State Park. It was a cold and rainy Saturday before Spring Break, but we still had over 100 volunteers! Volunteers received one of our cool new oyster restoration t-shirts for free! From 8:30am-12:00pm the volunteers shoveled reclaimed oyster shells into over 800 bags. That is about 16,000 pounds of oyster shells that were placed back into the water for new oyster beds to form! There were about 20 students from Moody High School and several students from Texas A&M Corpus Christi that participated in the event. Our next restoration effort is on April 28, 2012.
Goose Island Restoration #1. Each station tells the volunteers what to do. Mr. Vinay Dulip stands ready at Station 3.
Goose Island Restoration #1. The media stops by to asks some questions about oyster restoration.
Goose Island Restoration #1. Shoveling oysters into the bags to be placed into the water to create new oyster beds.
Goose Island Restoration #1. The group is ready to wade into the cold water to place over 800 bags of oysters back into the bay!
Goose Island Restoration #1. The bags of oysters are placed along the fishing pier. Everyone lines up to pass off the bags until they reach the oyster restoration site.
Ready?
Ready!
Goose Island Restoration #1. The bags are passed down the line!
Yeah last bag!!!
March 9, 2012
Oyster Outreach to Charlie Marshall Elementary
The Texas State Aquarium visited Charlie Marshall Elementary to tell students about the up-coming oyster restoration event at Goose Island State Park. The oyster costume was present, and the students participated in making this oyster craft. Egg cartons are used for the oyster shell, pink colored cotton balls are used for the oyster, and then a small pearl bead is glued inside. The Aquarium talked with 415 students in grade 4, 5, and 6.
March 3, 2012
Oyster color sheet at OysterFest.
March 3, 2012
Oyster craft at OysterFest.
March 3, 2012
OysterFest
OysterFest is a festival held in Rockport, TX every year to "salute the tasty bi-valve found in our local waters". In 2011 OysterFest hosted around 36,000 visitors! The students of Moody High School participated in the parade and in the education booth to teach the festival attendees about our project. Kids participated in crafts, took pictures with our oyster, while the parents took an oyster quiz on the IPads.
February 28, 2012
Our New Van!
A picture of our new van!
February 24, 2012
Marketing Projects
Our marketing projects are rolling in! We received our van today, and it looks great! We also received our table cloth for our booth and the t-shirts are on the way! We look forward to sharing the pictures soon!
February 6, 2012
Our final van design is approved! Here is a sneak peek! We will post the finished product soon!
February 6, 2012
The festival in Victoria, Texas was a great success! The festival hosted about 5,000 visitors and we saw about 1,000 of them! Here are some pictures of us getting the booth ready...
February 3, 2012
"The World is Your Oyster! Let's Take Care of It!"
This will be our logo and theme for our project. We will be posting our t-shirt, van, and table cloth designs soon!
February 1, 2012
Even macho guys can wear an oyster costume! We are getting ready to attend our first festival to tell others about oysters!
January 10th, 2012
Happy New Year! The STORA team has been busy designing our van, t-shirts, and radio spots. We are excited to share them with you as soon as the designs are approved. The group is heading to Victoria, Texas soon to promote oyster restoration to the public. We have been getting dates for the bagging and sinking events, and will announce those dates soon. The team will head out to the field for some data collection on: Jan. 25, Feb. 15, Mar. 7, and May 23. Wow! What a New Year!
December 20th, 2011
We have been meeting with the Texas State Aquarium staff and discussing the arrival of the group's two new iPads, the oyster costume, and future awareness plans. We are also going to be finishing t-shirt designs and beginning the script (in English and Spanish) for our radio spot. The ladies from the aquarium did an amazing job at selecting the oyster costume which is, I am sure everyone will agree, adorable!! See for yourself....
November 21st, 2011
The students of Moody High School visited the oyster restoration site on Goose Island State Park on October 8th, 2011. In addition to some initial scouting, the students were able to visit two restaurants in Rockport to discuss oyster shell donations with the program—Moondog Seaside Eatery and Alby’s Seafood Market. On October 28th the students of Moody High School got to meet their State Farm Representatives at a check presentation. The adorable oyster costume was debuted at the presentation!
November 11, 2011
Mr. Dulip and the class head out to Goose Island State Park to see where we will be doing our research on oysters.
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