About Us

Clam Bayou Marine Education Center

Dock view of Clam Bayou Marine Education CenterDock view of Clam Bayou Marine Education Center

In partnership with the City of St. Petersburg, the College of Marine Science community engagement team has operated the Clam Bayou Marine Education Center for the last 15 years. This facility, located in South St. Petersburg, has allowed us to triple programming capabilities.

The longstanding crown jewel of our programming at this facility is the Oceanography Camp for Girls, which recently turned 30 years old. Our newest program is Guardians of the Gulf, a multisensory summer STEAM program about coastal resiliency that empowers underserved youth to champion our coasts. In addition we provide several hands-on professional development workshops for K-12 teachers every year and host the Spoonbill Bowl for high schoolers. For a second time, we have been selected for the NOAA Gulf Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, which allows us to bring elementary scholars, from mainly Title I schools, to experience hands-on coastal processes and stewardship activities.

Here is a snapshot of our successes at the Clam Bayou Marine Education Center: 

  • Our Oceanography Camp for Girls, a model STEM program, has impacted more than 1000 teens over its 30-year history (and still counting!)
  • We have trained more than 1000 teachers through our professional development programs
  • More than 800 undergraduate and graduate students have participated in our education and outreach programs via classroom learning, as mentors on field trips, science festivals, and more
  • More than 300 elementary scholars participated in coastal field trips and stewardship activities through NOAA B-WET programs in 2018-2019 school year, and we anticipate over 350 scholars to do the same in 2022-2023

Clam Bayou overview video with Teresa Greely:

As a people first program team, testimonials sometimes mean even more that our statistics:

“Clam Bayou team: Your evaluation results from the teachers are wonderful and show the positive impact you all have having. It was incredible to watch the students present their inquiry projects as well – such amazing energy and thoughtfulness!” –Amy Clark, Education Coordinator, NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office

“This field trip was an excellent hands-on learning experience for my elementary school scholars, who need this type of exposure to real life science in their local community. This is where the learning starts and hopefully turns into a passion! Being a Title 1 school limits our opportunities, and the grant we secured for this field trip was invaluable.” –Sandrine Mason, Teacher of Gifted and Talented, Maximo and Melrose

The Clam Bayou Marine Education Center was chosen as the class project for the Leadership St. Pete® (LSP) Class of 2022. A ribbon-cutting to celebrate the team’s hard work was held June 14th and included remarks from Chris Steinocher, President and CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, and others. Enjoy this video of thanks.