Coming soon.... The Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center

Coming soon.... The Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center

Dear friends, Great news! Thanks to a grant from Gene Phipps and the Tallahassee Phipps Foundation we just acquired six lots immediately adjacent to our facility, which will double the size of our footprint and give us room to grow for years to come. This is something that we’ve wanted for over forty years. The Phipps family helped found and support Gulf Specimen when it was most fragile in the early 1960s, for which I am forever grateful.  The news gets even better. As part of the Hurricane Michael recovery program Volunteer Florida awarded Gulf Specimen a $485,000 grant to build a 2,000 square foot classroom and parking lot on the new property. This will enable us to expand our existing programs like bringing Joel Sartore of National Geographic, world famous author of “PhotoArk” and the late Jim Fowler, star of Wild Kingdom which drew record crowds to our “Sharks and Chablis” fundraisers.

The Anne Rudloe Environmental Education Center was so named because she was one of the founders of Gulf Specimen and one of Florida’s most famous naturalists and marine scientists. She taught classes in marine biology, Florida coastal, upland and spring ecosystems, invertebrate zoology, behavioral ecology, environmental science, fisheries biology and oceanography at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College for 19 years. She died of colon cancer in 2012.

Dr. Mary Pankowski, the former director of the FSU Center for Professional Development said, “Anne’s classes on Exploring Florida’s underwater wilderness was the longest lasting and popular of all the courses we taught there. She influence many, and with her husband Jack contributed much to the world.”

The new facility will feature a diverse array of classes, from scientists presenting their findings on marine life, and keeping the sea healthy, to offering cooking lessons on how to steam shrimp, make a coquina chowders, and eat delicious local seaweeds. We will call upon local fishing families to talk about their history and changing way of life. Courses offered on aquaculture, water quality, and aquarium maintenance will help young people get jobs and boost the local economy.  We are proud of the fact that many young people have been able to get good paying jobs because they worked at Gulf Specimen. Finding alternative for coastal residents to make a living from computer skills, auto-mechanics or fixing air conditioners is not our mission. Ours is to keep people on the water, preserve our rich cultural heritage, keep fishermen fishing, protect the environment and restore our depleted fisheries, so that once again we can enjoy wild oysters, as well as farmed ones. The Volunteer Florida grant requires that the construction of the classroom and parking lot must be completed within a year. Donations are needed now to begin furnishing the building with desks, chairs, audio-visual equipment and graphics. Help us realize our dream, with your help we will build a world-class environmental center in Panacea.   Sincerely, Jack Rudloe Founder of Gulf Specimen Marine Lab & Aquarium

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