Members of the Science Adventures Club on the Clearwater Campus rode atop the float they built to celebrate marine science and the Clearwater Campus’ 50th anniversary during the Clearwater Centennial Parade May 30.

With funding help from Student Services, the float showcased the research
that science students have been doing for the last few years out in the Gulf, including juvenile fish studies, mangrove grouper habitat studies, Gulf sediment research and the scuba program.

“The parade turned out to be a much bigger deal than I had expected,” said scuba and oceanography instructor Heyward Mathews, who helped construct the float. “There were so many floats and groups marching that we spent two hours in line
and then at 6:30, when we started down Drew Street, it took us two hours to go
the 2 ½ miles to Coachman Park. The SPC float was very well received by the
crowd.

“One lady along the route called out that she went to SPC and now had
her Ph.D. Another gentleman commented when he saw the old Ford pickup
that Dr. Vittetoe and his wife were riding in ahead of us, that he was at SPC when
that truck was still new. Then we had a bunch of middle-school-age kids that
began chanting , ‘SPC, SPC, SPC,’ as we passed.  We also saw a few young couples
with small kids who were former students.

The five marine biology students who rode on the float had a ball, and the scientific
equipment we had on the float made a good statement about the research our
students are doing out in the Gulf and in the mangroves,” Mathews said.

“This was my first parade since my middle school band days in 1955, but it was
fun and it brought home what an impact St. Petersburg College has had on
our community!”