Oceans come alive at Henderson school

Monday, April 20, 1998 | 10:13 a.m.

HENDERSON -- A new marine laboratory at Estes McDoniel Elementary School will offer students in the Clark County School District a hands-on opportunity to study sea life, school officials said at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday.

Laura McBride, president of the Estes McDoniel PTA, said the goal is to have the lab completed by the beginning of the 1998-1999 school year.

The 1,000-square-foot lab will have a 300-gallon shark tank, a live coral reef, a hands-on tide pool, a plankton breeding system and other exotic sea animals. Students will be able to breed tropical fish, observe live coral and grow plankton.

Kim Adams, a science teacher at the school, said the lab will be one of the few marine labs in the nation. She said there is still much that people don't know about the sea.

"The deepest part of the ocean is seven miles and we've never been there, yet we've been to outer space," she said.

"Studying the ocean is very important. The kids will learn how kelp and coral reefs affect the environment and the environment affects kelp and coral. We couldn't study this in our old lab."

Adams added that the lab will also help bring awareness to environmental issues.

"The majority of the oxygen that we breathe comes from plankton on the ocean," Adams said. "Not from land plants."

The Estes McDoniel PTA has raised $120,000 of the $160,000 needed to construct the lab.

"It's pretty amazing that the PTA raised that kind of money," said Melissa Warren, board member for the PTA and volunteer for the project. "We received donations from $5 to $25,000."

Eva White, principle of Estes McDoniel, said $50,000 of the money raised came from individuals.

The current marine lab, located in a trailer adjacent to the school and constructed nine years ago, is in disrepair and cannot meet the needs of the classes, school district officials say.

The lab will accommodate up to 45 students at one time and will also be available as a field trip destination for all the schools in Clark County. Warren said the Estes McDoniel PTA also has an outreach program to help fund at-risk schools who want to visit the lab. The school is at 1831 Fox Ridge Drive, near Green Valley Parkway and Valley Verde Street.

Warren said the current funds will go toward constructing and equipping the lab, but that the PTA is committed to assuring the lab is a permanent fixture at Estes McDoniel.

A $25,000 donation from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation started the funds. Other donors included Caesars Palace and Mirage Resorts.

Gov. Bob Miller joined a group of distinguished speakers taking the podium at Friday's groundbreaking.