The Ocean Explorium was recognized with the 2012 Education Leadership Award by the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce during the Chamber’s 126th Annual Meeting & Business Luncheon, which was held on November 15, 2012. This award recognizes one local area business or organization each year that has demonstrated a long-term commitment to improving educational opportunities for students in the South Coast region. The recipient of the award is selected by a committee from the Chamber’s Greater New Bedford Connecting Activities Partnership.
The Ocean Explorium was selected for the prestigious award for its mission of investing in the community through educational partnerships that help secure the future of the region’s youth.
“I am incredibly proud of the work we are doing here,” said Ocean Explorium Executive Director Abbey Spargo. “We have a team that is passionate, dedicated and motivated, and they are the critical piece in making education our core mission.”
Since 2010, high school interns from the Greater New Bedford Connecting Activities Partnership have had the opportunity to work at the Ocean Explorium in a wide variety of aspects, including: data collection, research and analysis, event management, teaching and customer interaction.
Employers who participate in the Connecting Activities Partnership program take the time to plan tasks for the interns to complete with the goal of improving their skills throughout the
duration of the internship. Interns work on tasks that will benefit an organization and in return, they will learn new skills and expand their knowledge of a career field. These experiences allow interns to apply academic learning and employers to provide hands-on training in a professional setting that illustrates classroom relevance in the professional world.
Through its current work with the CHOICES drop-out prevention workshops, the Ocean Adventure Educational program, Environmental Explorer Educational Program, The Ocean
Explorium National Science Foundation Ocean Academy, and the Young Ocean Explorers Program, the Ocean Explorium continues to champion several other educational outreach initiatives throughout the SouthCoast.
The mission of the Ocean Explorium is to establish New Bedford as a center for ocean science public education, with an emphasis on environmental stewardship and science literacy.
