Bradenton Christian School preps for 2nd Earth Day fundraiser for Mote Marine Laboratory's Sea Turtle Hospital

BRADENTON -- Bradenton Christian School's sixth-grade classes are holding a fundraiser to benefit Mote Marine Laboratory's Sea Turtle Hospital.

Baked goods and turtle-themed merchandise will be sold to BCS students April 21-22. Proceeds will be presented to a Mote Marine representative at 8:15 a.m. May 23.

"Sea turtles nest on our beaches," said sixth-grader Hannah Pickhardt, "and they are in danger from trash, getting trapped under beach furniture and bright lights."

Turtle-nesting season starts May 1.

The fundraiser will help aid Mote's research on endangered animals and is in celebration of Earth Day.

Five students took time during spring break to film Mote's Sea Turtle Hospital, interview key personnel and produce an educational video.

"These young students exemplify the type of independent learning and initiative we encourage," said Superintendent Dan Vande Pol. "This type of experiential education will be an integral part of our new middle school building opening this August."

The new middle school will be on the cutting edge of educational technology, Vande Pol said.

All nine new classrooms will take advantage of multimedia learning trends and will be fitted with 70-inch interactive HDTVs, laptops for each student, document cameras and projectors.

Two science labs complement the classrooms and will be equipped with Forward Vision I Four-Student workstations with their own sinks and Octagon Lab workstations allowing for collaborative learning experiences.

Extra-wide hallways have been incorporated into the design to allow social interaction, devotions, announcements and a more enjoyable "middle school experience."

Founded in 1960, Bradenton Christian School, 3304 43rd St. W., is Manatee County's oldest and largest Christian school for students pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade. More than 700 students are enrolled.

Video link: youtube.com/watch?v=bf1qrUmX-iI&feature=youtu.be.

Information: bcspanthers.org.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bradenton Christian School preps for 2nd Earth Day fundraiser for Mote Marine Laboratory's Sea Turtle Hospital ."