November, 2015- GOLFERS TEE OFF FOR SCIENCE

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November, 2015- GOLFERS TEE OFF FOR SCIENCE

Photo credit: Courtesy of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium/Esteban Parchuc
Photo credit: Courtesy of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium/Esteban Parchuc

Funds raised at Science Center’s annual golf tournament go toward $250,000 challenge grant

(West Palm Beach, Fla.) According to leadership at the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, the nonprofit’s 4th annual Conservation Cup was a swinging success! A full field of golfers teed off on Monday, October 26 in the name of science education. The tournament took place at Mayacoo Lakes, and included a luncheon, silent auction and awards presentation. Funds raised are earmarked to support improvements to the Center’s science trail and new Conservation Course.

“We are incredibly appreciative of our Conservation Cup chairman Heath Randolph and his entire committee,” said Lew Crampton, Science Center CEO. “Their leadership has helped raise funds toward meeting a $250,000 challenge grant from The Batchelor Foundation for the development of our Florida Forever Science Trail and the installation of our new Conservation Course. We have until July 2016 to raise the matching funds, which will all go toward our continued expansion and improvement plans.”

The Science Center’s Conservation Course, a new 18-hole miniature golf course, is a collaboration between Jim Fazio and Gary Nicklaus, sons of two of the most well-known design icons in the golf community. The Science Center is scheduled to break ground for the project in 2016. The course will educate visitors and locals alike about natural Florida habitats, especially the Everglades. Each hole represents a naming opportunity and will include plaques explaining plants and animals indigenous to South Florida. Sponsorships of the science trail and the Conservation Course are available at all levels.

Major sponsors for the Conservation Cup included: RevitalIV, First Republic Bank, Cari Rentas, CBIZ, Dennis Goldstein, EDS Air Condition and Carolyn and Ed Sasso. Additional sponsors included: The Honda Classic – Russ Evans, Nicklaus Design, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Schumacher, Butler Construction, Kennel Club, LaRocaa and Associates, Mettler Randolph Massey, Ferguson Carroll & Sterlacci P.L., MP Design and Architecture, Jeff and Liza Smith, Hedrick Brothers, The Pohrer Group of K2 Realty, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith, Steven Douglas Associates, BBT, Cemex, Garden of Life, Maschmeyer Concrete, Paddock Partnerships and Mr. and Mrs. John Randolph.

The South Florida Science Center and Aquarium features more than 50 hands-on educational exhibits, an 8,000 gallon fresh and salt water aquarium- featuring both local and exotic marine life, a digital planetarium, conservation research station, Florida exhibit hall, Pre-K focused “Discovery Center” and an interactive Everglades exhibit. The Science Center’s fall blockbuster exhibition, Dinosaurs Around the World, is currently on display and features more than a dozen life-size and life-like animatronic dinosaurs. All exhibits will be on display during Dinosaurs Around the World’s special showing, which runs through April 16, 2016.

For more information about the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium and its benefit events, please contact Marcy Hoffman, the Science Center’s director of institutional development, at 561-370-7738 or email mhoffman@sfsciencecenter.org.

For general information about the Science Center and its exhibits and programming, please visit www.sfsciencecenter.org or call 561-832-1988. Please follow the Science Center on Twitter @SFScienceCenter and like it on Facebook.