Madeira Beach Middle School's Curriculum Celebration
This was our first event with the school, which is a marine-themed middle school, located on beautiful Boca Ciega Bay in Pinellas County. Before the event, I met with school faculty and our kiter-friendly history teacher, A.J. Gilberg. After getting a first class tour of the grounds and science building, we discussed the healthy benefits of our favorite sports, the increasing popularity, and the need for more positive role models in the community. The staff at MBMS is very excited to have a group of athletes such as us attend this event, and many ideas were flowing at this meeting. Several teachers are interested in learning to kite, and offered to assist in assembling future wind and water sport programs with TBKA to highlight the healthy benefits of our sport. Kiteboarding applies to much of the curriculum they are already teaching including Health and Fitness, Science, even Math and Geometry!
Local kiters Amber Platowski and Josh Taylor fielded many questions from the crowd of students and parents about Kiteboarding, while Brian and Kyle, of Fortes Inboard showed off their sled and offered up free lessons for Honor roll students! We had planned a Kiting and Wakeboarding exhibition, but boat problems and dying seabreeze kept us grounded. Brian donated 2 lesson packages for the prize drawings, TBKA members donated a Kiteboarding lesson package, which were distributed by school faculty. We also made a great impression on the other attending organizations including Surfrider Foundation, Suncoast Sierra Club, Green Armada.org, Florida FWC, and Coast Guard. The event was a great success and we appreciate the hospitality of MBMS and its staff! We look forward to more great events with this, and other local schools, in the near future! Thanks everyone who helped pull this first event off with style!
After The Event
The event was a huge success! Thanks Amber, Josh, Kyle, and Brian for helping make this a reality!
We made some great contacts here and will be working with MBMS in the future.
We will also be joining several of the other organizations in attendance for future events and cleanups. They were all excited at the prospect of getting kiters involved in their organizations.
Thanks everyone!
Originally published on tbka.org. Recovered from the Internet Archive. View the archived original.