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| Company History Programs Funding/Future Personnel Programs |
 Director Keith Grybowski COMPANY HISTORY - Explorer Cruises Marine Science Project d/b/a Charleston Explorers is a Non-profit Marine Education Company offering marine educational programs in South Carolina. Participants are predominately elementary and middle school students from public and private schools. Over 12,000 students participated in the 2002 programs. The program started as a for profit marine nature tour in 1998. From the beginning, the majority of participants were elementary and middle school students. The explosive development of conservation issues surrounding the growth of Charleston’s harbor created a perfect environment for the expansion of the marine science curriculum. In 1999, the programs founding member started to phase out of the public business, to focus on the development of marine based educational programs. The program obtained non profit status in January, 2000. Since then, the program has been involved in Educational programs through South Carolina, Texas and Florida. In May of 2003, the program entered into a partnership with Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum. With the partnership, Charleston Explorers gained a foothold on land by creating a student friendly laboratory and classroom on board the Coast Guard Cutter, the USS Ingham. The Patriots Point site also offered one of the best locations for Charleston Explorer's continued work on oyster bank restoration.
ECMSP Programs - The ECMSP curriculums are flexible enough for participation of student's in kindergarten, through college. The programs initial activity started as a 2½-hour nature exploration of Charleston Harbor’s various undeveloped barrier islands onboard the M/V Charleston Explorer (70 passenger vessel). Tours of Morris Island and the bird sanctuaries on Crab Bank offer students a chance to observe island wildlife in their natural beach, mudflat and marsh habitats. The water based program includes visits to underwater habitats found in the program's crab pots, to observations of the harbor's numerous pods of resident dolphins and nesting pelicans. Over the last five years, the curriculum evolved to include land based activities through the development of our Mobile Classroom program. The wonders of marine life are now brought directly to the student's classroom year round, avoiding adverse weather conditions or bussing limitations. The programs include a historical presentation, in full period attire, of the Golden Age of Piracy, to hands on presentations of the local marine life. The curriculum also includes incentive programs used for the promotion of reading and parental participation in the education process. The Fred & Jennifer reading program is a series of participation stories told to groups as part of the mobile classroom program. Each story has important moral themes that the students are asked to identify. The participants are given the opportunity to illustrate the stories, which are scanned into the story line and returned to the school as a personalized book, with the necessary requirements to be placed in the school’s accelerated reading program. The stories are presented both as a marine science or historical program. ECMSP’s Dolphin Reader Program allows South Carolina participating schools to offer incentive awards to reader’s within their respective programs. The awards allow the student to participate for free, in ECMSP’s dolphin exploration program on board the M/V Charleston Explorer. ECMSP dose not dictate how the awards are given. The only requirement is that the students participate in a reading program, and that they are accompanied by a parent on the Dolphin Exploration. The program is a wonderful success, in many instances, drawing a higher number of parent participation than is found at a monthly PTA meeting. Our two largest outside assets are the operations proximity to the South Carolina Aquarium and the educational facilities of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime sit. From our berth at the Maritime Center, in downtown Charleston, student's are only a 5 minute walk to the South Carolina Aquarium. The Aquarium opened in May of 2000 and is the best resource for the observation of marine wildlife found throughout South Carolina. There is nothing in the country that can compare to the full day marine immersion experience that includes field exposure obtained through a Charleston Explorer exploration cruise to a barrier Island, followed up with the land based educational value of the Aquarium’s low country exhibits.
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Keith Grybowski - (Program Founder and Director) The experiences gained by being raised in the Virgin Islands, are the basis for Mr. Grybowski's love and respect for the environment. As a 1980 graduate from the New York Maritime Academy, Mr. Grybowski had the opportunity to work in environmentally sensitive areas on the Amazon in Brazil, to the archipelagos of Chile. His second career as a Maritime Attorney, involved oil spill and coral reef restoration litigation and instilled in him the need to educate students on the importance of protecting our environment. "Of all the experiences I have had the opportunity of being involved in, the programs developed and offered by Charleston Explorers have been the most rewarding." With 2008, Mr. Grybowski will be working on the development of the Marine Science Education Center, to be located on board the USS Aircraft Carrier Yorktown. The new center will be supported by a new fully interactive web site that Mr. Grybowski is currently building. Head of Operations - Capt Terry AnniableChristopher Jackson - (Program Founder and Adviser) Mr. Jackson obtained his Master's degree in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in 1990. Thereafter, he worked as a staff biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. His love for education lead him to a teaching position as an adjunct professor at Trident Technical College, as a naturalist with Cyprus Gardens and City of Charleston's Recreational Department. As one of the founding members of Charleston Explorers, Christopher Jackson has been involved in all aspects of developing our educational programs. STAFF - All of Explorer's staff of student instructors are enrolled in the College of Charleston's Marine Biology Master's and Undergraduate programs. There is a general love to teach running through out all of our instructors. New members of our teaching alumni are now teaching within the Charleston County school system. With the program expansion, Charleston Explorers main goal is to seek funding to make the program accessible to students of all economical factions and to obtain a permanent staff. Our current funding is obtained from participating students, shortfall contributions from the program's founding developer, various South Carolina Grants. Charleston Explorers has reduced its program rates for the last three years. Our current rates do non cover the minimum cost of the water based field trips. Public companies charge $20 and higher. With the cost of bussing and other incidental expenses, it is impossible for students to pay the true cost of supporting the program. The other limiting funding factor has been Charleston Explorer's reliance on part time employees. Nevertheless, we have been fortunate in setting up a relationship with the Marine Biology Graduate Program at the College of Charleston. Charleston Explorer's educators all have a passion to teach the wonders of the estuaries The program relies solely on the founding member’s volunteered time for the program administration.Grants - Over the last few years Charleston Explorers has been the recipient of various grants. With funding obtained from Palmetto the Governor’s Council on Beautification and Litter, we launched our ‘Pollution Solutions’ initiative. The program teaches the students about the dangers and consequences of litter in aquatic environments. On over 100 cruises on the M/V Charleston Explorer between 3/25/02 and 11/01/03 to various environmentally sensitive areas in and around Charleston Harbor Students and teachers collected a total of 1000 pounds (lbs) of litter. Trash was identified and classified into 18 categories. With continued financial and school support, Charleston Explorers hopes to continue its ‘Pollution Solutions’ Program by adding exhibits at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum and developing a litter data base, monitoring litter trends.Future Goals - Charleston Explorers will continue to solicit funds and sponsorships so as to subsidize the program expenses. Vital for the programs continued success is the creation of a permanent staff for the program administration and continued development of the curriculum. The heart of the program will be a long-term study conducted by the program’s participants as part of our Oyster Restoration Project. The study will focus on the effects of Charleston Harbor’s growth on the salt-water marsh environment. The students will also participate in the collection of data during visits to Patriots Point, while on board the M/V Charleston Explorer, and in experiments conducted as part of our Mobile Classroom program. The data will be the bases of discussions as to their observations, the importance off any changes noted, the effects of the changes and steps being taken to prevent any further damage to the salt marsh environment . The program will also be supplemented with a social science discussion of Charleston Harbor's significant history from the Golden Age of Piracy, through the Civil War. Students will learn the importance of the historical value, as a preservation factor in protecting the islands environment.The students’ observations will be placed in a database, accessible on Charleston's Explorers' web site. The web site will also contain reports from studies in which the database was used. The database and its potential use in subsequent studies, will create the vehicle for stimulating the students’ interest in preservation issues. Students can draw their own conclusions through a comparison of their findings with those of subsequent participants. These conclusions can be made at different points in their educational journey, whether in a middle school earth science program or a subsequent advance courses in marine biology. |
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Education
Director - Christopher Jackson