FLORIDA AQUARIUM’S NEW GALLERY KICKS OFF $40 EXPANSION PROJECT

By Sophia Walck

The Brandon Moose Lodge is calling all local ‘kidpreneurs’ to o f er their products and services at the Kid’s Biz Market. The event will take place on Sunday, August 6 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

For a $15 registration fee, kids ages 5-18 are able to set up a business for visitors to interact with. Each stand highlights a child’s unique talents and showcases a project, good or service. The booths range from items such as crafts and jewelry to others like baked goods and candles.

Attendees will be able to walk away with a variety of high-quality products while supporting the budding creativity of local children. Unlike the regular vendor markets that the organization holds quarterly, this kids-only event shines a well-deserved spotlight on the next generation of business.

“Our Kid’s Biz Market is a safe foundation for our young aspiring entrepreneurs to experience their creative dreams in real life,” shared Jessica Pedraza, one of the event coordinators who made the market’s creation possible.

As a mother of three boys, Pedraza views fostering children’s abilities and o f ering support as serious matters. Along with her fellow coordinators, she

Not only does the event strengthen the idea of young voices in business, but it also gives kidpreneurs the necessary tools to accomplish their dreams.

A large platform unlocks new skills that small neighborhood pop-up stands don’t allow for.

Pedraza stated she hopes the meeting will achieve everything “from learning firsthand, production inventory, customer relations and money handling to an opportunity to showcase their talents and realize the power they have within themselves.”

Amiee Johnston-Wells, leader of the planning committee, has been especially eager to turn the vision of the market into a real occurrence. What started as a simple vision of a way to encourage the youth business community has now been taken into e f ect.

The Brandon Moose Lodge encourages families to register for and attend the Kid’s Biz Market to empower youth and set up a foundation of skill that will benefit communities for generations to come.

For more information, please visit the Kid’s Biz Market Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ events/632548391839219.

Having opened on July 1, The Florida Aquarium’s newest gallery and interactive experience, MORPH’D, o f ers visitors many new exhibits and species.

Part of the Aquarium’s $40 million expansion, MORPH’D features 19 exhibits and 18 species that are known for their adaptable qualities. Some of these unique species include axolotls, four-eyed fish, bird-poop frogs (yes, they look like bird poop), archerfish, paddlefish, chameleons and more.

“The paddlefish and archerfish will be a big crowd pleaser,” said Eileen Caro, biologist II at The Florida Aquarium. “Archerfish are one of the two known species to actually shoot the water to get food.”

Caro demonstrated this amazing tactic by placing some krill on a branch that hangs above the archerfish tank. Then, the fish came up to the surface and spit water to free the food stuck above. This show that the archerfish put on will surely lure in a large audience.

“They have great aim, but you’re in a splash zone standing by the tank,” Caro said.

The MORPH’D gallery also promotes interactive features to viewers, like touch screens. These interactive features depict the correlating species’ characteristics, locations and more. All of this contributes to the aquarium’s overall goal to connect humans to these unique species, helping those participat- ing to have a better understanding of what it is they’re looking at and just how remarkable these creatures are.

“I hope that this exhibit will bring in new people, especially people in our community that maybe have never been to the aquarium or people who have just recently moved here. Hopefully, with new visitors viewing the gallery, they’ll also get to see how special the rest of our aquarium is,” stated Caro. “It’s not just an entertainment factor but also a key to opening people up to conservation and education.”

MORPH’D is just the tip of the iceberg for The Florida Aquarium’s large expansion, which will go on for the next few years. This incredible exhibit that showcases the unique adaptable qualities the animals have acquired is the first step of many to transform The Florida Aquarium.

The Florida Aquarium is located in downtown Tampa in the Channelside District at 701 Channelside Dr. For more information on this exciting new exhibit, upcoming events, tickets and all the things yet to come, visit www.flaquarium.org.

IN THIS ISSUE:

EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT..................PG 3

HIGH 5 SWIM LESSONS PG 3

BEERFEST ............PG 8

EYE ON BUSINESS................PGS 25-26

DR. DEEP SEA ..........PG 29