High School Aquarium Club

[Cichlidweb]

Hey guys! I was a

member of the ACA for quite some time, but let my membership lapse when I moved away and had to

take down all my tanks. Well I'm back in a stable place now and teaching high school. I was

looking into starting an aquarium club at the school. I ended up taking over what they call the

environmental / biology club, and I was going to use the idea of an aquarium club to get this

inactive club up and running. So I set it all up and no one comes. I'm thinking if I get a

nice big tank up and running at the school, and get some people interested in the environmental

impact that cichlids are going through that I will win over some students to join the club. Then I

could have a whole bunch of willing new young members for the ACA too! The trouble is getting

them interested to come. My local club is the RMCA in Denver that hosted a recent ACA convention.

One of the members there suggested that the ACA might have some type of assistance available to get

a club going in a school. Is that true? I'm trying to figure out how to maybe do a decent

tank at the school and then how to get interested students set up with tanks. I guess at this

point I'd like to know if the ACA has any ideas to get a new group started in the high school

here! Thanks for anything you can think of!

[Sam M.]

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[attachment=130:attachment]That is a

really good idea trying to get high school students involved. If you really want to attract some

attention to the club try making the name of the club more exciting. Also you should set up a big

tank like you said and put some exotic species in the tank even if they are not cichlids. I f you

are planning to have a big tank that is salt water I would suggest lionfish or a bamboo shark. No

matter your age everyone loves sharks. If you really want to get them interested give the shark a

cool name relating to a school sport's team name and try to put it in the yearbook. Granted

you want to go this path. Goodluck

-Sam

[bobrfish]

ACA does not have a program

in place to provide financial assistance. If you wish to purse financial assistance then direct an

email to Board of Trustees (BOT) submitting a request, add as much pertinent information as

possible for BOT deliberation. BOT member email addresses are found in Buntbarsche Bulletin or on

ACA web site.

There is an ACA program for reduced membership or free membership to a

youth club or junior members. Check with Claudia Dickinson, membership coordinator.

Claudia Dickinson has prepared curriculum that some after school programs (not a club) are using

in studing cichlids. She would likely discuss this or share it with you. Find Claudia's email

address in same locations.

ACA members may be willing to help you themselves. Start

with RMCA. Donation of used tanks and equipment would be natural as these folks are close at hand.

Placing want ads, requesting free cichlids shipped to your school is another possibility. For

members to pitch in then a sales job in the want ad would be needed.

[tjudy]

There was a club going in a

high school I taught at in Arizona, where I was a Biology/Chemistry teacher. The club was not

something I started... the kids started it. The interest in the aquariums came from my having

several tanks in the classroom. Whenever students expressed an interest I would encourage it. I

used the aquariums in lessons. I also guided some students towards science projects that took

advantage of the aquaria in the room. The third year I was there a group of about 6 students with

an interest started hanging out during lunch or after school and would take some responsibility for

maintaining the tanks, and they all had started at least one at home. Those students started the

club. We found a used 55 to put into the library that the club maintained. We would do a weekend

club event once a month that included shop hops, trips to zoos/museums with aquaria or visits to

fish rooms.

My advice... keep the tanks for your own enjoyment and the kids will

either become interested or they will not.