christo203
Community Member
My name is Christopher Civitate and I am one of the many volunteers at Central Campus Marine Biology in Des Moines, IA. If you had the pleasure of coming to MACNA 2011 you might of had the chance to come and explore our Marine Biology lab. I have over 12 years of experience that started right in the very classroom that I know help out at. I am in charge of social media outreach for the program and will be the one to talk with when making a donation to the room.
The Marine Biology program was started 26 years ago at Central Campus with a 29 gallon aquarium and 12 students. With the addition of the Aquarium Science courses, we now have just over 100 aquariums , totaling 16,000 gallons of saltwater displays and have over 200 students registered this year for both Aquarium Science and Marine Biology combined. Students range from 9th thru 12th grades with even a few DMACC students. The students receive both high school and DMACC college credit for Aquaculture and Marine Biology. In the spring the students take a 10 day Field Ecology dive trip to the Bahamas. Scuba Diving certification is offered to students in both programs.
Our goals are to teach the students about the organisms that live in the oceans and what affects them in their natural environment through the Marine Biology course work. Aquarium Science teaches the students how to make a career with skills they learn through working with aquatic animals in closed systems. These include environmental jobs, research positions, fisheries, aquaculture, public aquariums, pet trade, recreational and waste water fields. The students learn how to keep animals alive in a closed system and about the life support essential to accomplishing this goal. Aquaculture is taught with a focus on our live coral farm, marine ornamental fish hatchery and our jellyfish propagation system (still to come this year). We also have a 2,400 gallon sting ray tank, 1,000 gallon bamboo shark tank and are waiting for the plumping to be done on a 700 gallon reef fishes display and a 600 gallon live coral display. The current room has 8 live coral displays and 4 coral troughs in our coral farm. Many students who graduate from this program have gone on to careers in the pet industry, professional diving, teaching, and environmental fields.
As we expand we are always looking for donations of corals and animals to help continue our program. Without the addition of new and unusual animals to the room, we aren't able to conitnue our program. With only six months of breeding under our belt, we only have about 100 baby clownfish that were breed at the end of last year. As the school year begins, we have several pairs that have laid eggs and look to have a much higher success rate this year. One of the things that is important for us is that every kid gets to learn how to do each process through out the year which leads to lower success rates than a commericial facility.
The Marine Biology program was started 26 years ago at Central Campus with a 29 gallon aquarium and 12 students. With the addition of the Aquarium Science courses, we now have just over 100 aquariums , totaling 16,000 gallons of saltwater displays and have over 200 students registered this year for both Aquarium Science and Marine Biology combined. Students range from 9th thru 12th grades with even a few DMACC students. The students receive both high school and DMACC college credit for Aquaculture and Marine Biology. In the spring the students take a 10 day Field Ecology dive trip to the Bahamas. Scuba Diving certification is offered to students in both programs.
Our goals are to teach the students about the organisms that live in the oceans and what affects them in their natural environment through the Marine Biology course work. Aquarium Science teaches the students how to make a career with skills they learn through working with aquatic animals in closed systems. These include environmental jobs, research positions, fisheries, aquaculture, public aquariums, pet trade, recreational and waste water fields. The students learn how to keep animals alive in a closed system and about the life support essential to accomplishing this goal. Aquaculture is taught with a focus on our live coral farm, marine ornamental fish hatchery and our jellyfish propagation system (still to come this year). We also have a 2,400 gallon sting ray tank, 1,000 gallon bamboo shark tank and are waiting for the plumping to be done on a 700 gallon reef fishes display and a 600 gallon live coral display. The current room has 8 live coral displays and 4 coral troughs in our coral farm. Many students who graduate from this program have gone on to careers in the pet industry, professional diving, teaching, and environmental fields.
As we expand we are always looking for donations of corals and animals to help continue our program. Without the addition of new and unusual animals to the room, we aren't able to conitnue our program. With only six months of breeding under our belt, we only have about 100 baby clownfish that were breed at the end of last year. As the school year begins, we have several pairs that have laid eggs and look to have a much higher success rate this year. One of the things that is important for us is that every kid gets to learn how to do each process through out the year which leads to lower success rates than a commericial facility.
