Sea Scouts present Award of Excellence plaque to CMM. Pictured l to r is Ed Gies, Charter Representative; Sherrod Sturrock, Acting CMM Director; Brenda Renninger, Ship's Boatswain; and Doug Yeckley, Head Skipper.Sea Scout Ship 548 Receives Award of Excellence
Join the Calvert Marine Museum in congratulating Sea Scout Ship 548 on receiving the Regional Commodore's Award of Excellence for the Northeast Region.
The Commodore's Award of Excellence is given to Sea Scout Ships that show leadership and the best examples of Sea Scouting in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The Sea Scout Ship Sea Eagle—Ship 548 is registered in the "Gold" level for increased membership, retention of membership, rank advancement, leadership development, and community service projects.
Head Youth Officer, Skipper Douglas Yeckley, has lead the local Sea Scout since starting this National Capital Area Council (NCAC) chapter in 1998. The NCAC is part of the Chesapeake Flotilla Ship and currently meets on Tuesday evenings at the Calvert Marine Museum. The adults that assist the Ship have completed local, regional, and national training.
Sea Scouting is a co-educational program for young adults from ages 14—21. They have sailed the high seas in search of adventure, while providing assistance to fellow boaters in need since 1912. Sea Scouting builds character and members learn to sail, row, and keep a boat in shape. Scouts can also learn to dive, be active in social events, tours, regattas, excursions, and seamanship contests, along with doing community service activities.
If you are interested in becoming a Sea Scout or to receive more information, contact the NCAC Squadron Commodore, Douglas Yeckley at douglas.yeckley@comcast.net.
PNC Grow Up Great Grant Awarded to Extend Educational Outreach at the Calvert Marine Museum
The Calvert Marine Museum has received a grant for $13,500 from the PNC Foundation to fund opportunities for pre-school children in the Southern Maryland region. PNC Grow Up Great initiative is designed to help prepare children—particularly underserved children—from birth to age five for success in school and life.
Through Grow Up Great, PNC emphasizes the importance of the first five years of life, which research has shown is critical to long-term achievement. The program helps families, educators, and community partners provide innovative opportunities that enhance learning and development in a child's early years.
The PNC funding will enable the museum to bring in special guests for the monthly pre-school programs: Sea Squirts for children 18-months to 3 years, and Little Minnows for children 3 to 5 years, and their caregivers. Special topics will include music enrichment, art enrichment, children's authors, and hands on science.
In addition to museum-based programming, the grant will subsidize free outreach programs for low-income children at pre-approved sites, such as Headstart. These are 30-minute programs that involve hands-on, active learning. Children will also receive a free pass to the museum to encourage parents to bring them to visit.
The museum also presents three special event days designed with young children in mind: Dino Day, Pirate Day, and Otter Mania. The grant provides funding to support these events. There is also funding for an interactive wall map of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and equipment to be used in educational programming.
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. Through Grow Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a $350 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.
Grant Awarded to Store Donated Sea Shell Collection
The Calvert Marine Museum (CMM) received a world-wide collection of thousands of sea shells in May 2014 donated by Marilyn Silverthorn. This collection was her father-in-law's, Lieutenant General Merwin H. Silverthorn USMC, acquired during his global oceanic travels.
Working closely with Marie Silverthorn (Lieutenant General Merwin H. Silverthorn's granddaughter), the Calvert Marine Museum applied and was awarded a grant from the RSMIS Foundation of Houston, Texas. The grant was used to purchase Viking storage cabinets and archival specimen trays (both of which are shown in the attached photo) to properly preserve the Silverthorn collection in perpetuity.
Under the direction of John Nance, CMM Department of Paleontology Collections Manager, curation of the Merwin H. Silverthorn seashell collection has begun. CMM staff and Paleontology summer interns have started to organize this large collection to maximize its scientific value and availability for researchers, and for possible use in future exhibits.
Left, John Nance, paleontology summer interns Peyton Mills, Amber Hobbs, and Cecily Hein clean and sort shells into their new specimen trays and cabinets, funded by a grant from the RSMIS Foundation.