BlueAct Marine Society, which operates Nicholas Sonntag TidePools Aquarium, today announces a free one-day admission ticket initiative for elementary and secondary students on the Sunshine Coast.
The year-long initiative is possible thanks to the generous donation from Len Libin and his family through the Judi Libin Giving Fund.
TidePool Aquarium Student Admission Tickets are being distributed through project partner School District 46 in November to elementary school students through their written learning outcome report and available to students of Chatelech Secondary, Elphinstone Secondary, Pender Harbour Elementary-Secondary and Sunshine Coast Alternative Schools through the school offices. One-day admission tickets will also be distributed to L’École du Pacifique and Wildwood Learning students. Approximately 3600 Sunshine Coast students will receive one-day admission tickets.
The Libin Family’s donation is also extending TidePools Aquarium’s free admission to include preschool children under five. Previously free admission has been available to children under four.
The goal of the complimentary student admission ticket initiative is to reduce barriers for all children on the Sunshine Coast to visit TidePools Aquarium which provides educational programs that inspire and encourage positive behavioural change and support the sustainability of our local ecosystems for the benefit of current and future generations.
The Judi Libin Giving Fund was established in honour of Len Libin’s late wife who enjoyed taking her grandchildren to Gibsons Public Market and TidePools Aquarium. She valued the family-friendly environment at the Market and the wonder, mystery, and magic of the undersea world that she and her grandchildren explored together. This donation furthers Judi’s vision that all children are provided an opportunity to visit TidePools Aquarium.
This complimentary student admission ticket initiative supports Sunshine Coast School District 46’s vision of a thriving and inclusive community of lifelong learners and their work with families. The school district values the learner’s growth through holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, relational, and personalized learning. The partnership with TidePools Aquarium furthers the school district’s motto “paddling together to irresistible futures.”
“We know that children’s learning is enhanced with place-based active participation, an approach that connects learning and communities with the primary goals of increasing student engagement, boosting academic outcomes, impacting communities, and promoting understanding of the world around us,” says Debbie Amaral, Board Chair of BlueAct Marine Society and former School District 46 District Principal.
TidePools collect and release aquarium is open all year. Exhibits and touch tanks feature more than 75 species from diverse local underwater habitats such as rocky intertidal, eelgrass, subtidal, mudflats, kelp forest, deep sea, and rocky reef. In December 2024 TidePools Aquarium is open extra days and hours during the school’s winter break, for details visit tidepoolsaquarium.org/visit.
