|
 |
| Photos courtesy of IMAX®, Deep Sea 3D |
 |
|
|
|
SEASPACE Scholarships Continue!
| ||||||||||
HOUSTON, Texas — SEASPACE Inc., a Houston-based nonprofit organization dedicated to marine environmental education and youth outreach, has created an endowment to help Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) students fund their educations. The SEASPACE Endowed Scholarship in the Marine Sciences — established at the Texas A&M Foundation — will provide multiple annual scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students in marine-related fields.
SEASPACE has been a longtime supporter of marine science students across the nation. Over the past 35 years, some 324 students have benefited from SEASPACE scholarships. Funds for SEASPACE scholarships were raised at the annual SEASPACE Exposition in Houston, an event which ran from 1969 through 2007. Now that the exposition no longer takes place, SEASPACE has opted to continue funding scholarships by transferring its Permanent Education Fund to the Texas A&M Foundation which will invest and administer the fund.
Ninety percent of the investment earnings associated with the $400,000 SEASPACE endowment will fund university scholarships, while 10 percent of the earnings have been earmarked to establish the SEASPACE SeaCamp Grant Fund. This fund will provide multiple annual grants to middle school and high school students attending TAMUG’s Sea Camp, a summer learning program in the marine sciences.
The Texas A&M Foundation is a private nonprofit organization that solicits and manages investments in academics and leadership programs to enhance Texas A&M’s capability to be among the best universities. As some time is required to establish the new fund, SEASPACE will administer its own final scholarship distribution during 2010. Graduate and post-grad students in the marine sciences are invited to request a scholarship application.
Kenneth Knezick, who served as director of the annual SEASPACE Exposition, offered his profound thanks for the hundreds of volunteers who helped to make the event a success over the years. The Board of Directors of SEASPACE expressed their appreciation for the patronage of the many vendors who exhibited at SEASPACE. The support of volunteers and exhibitors made possible the endowment and grant to the Texas A&M Foundation.
SEASPACE no longer administers the SEASPACE scholarships. To obtain information about the SEASPACE Scholarships which are now being administered by Texas A&M Galveston please contact:
Texas A&M University at Galveston
Development Office, P. O. Box 1675, Galveston, TX 77553
phone: 409-740-4446
fax: 409-740-4407
http://www.tamug.edu
maffaya@tamug.edu
HOUSTON, Texas — Founded in 1969 by members of the Houston Underwater Club, SEASPACE has had a long and storied history of service to the dive community. While other consumer dive shows operate as commercial endeavors, SEASPACE is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. In addition to staging an exciting, annual scuba diving exposition, SEASPACE's mission has been to focus on marine environmental education, with a concerted and ongoing outreach to youth.
As of 2007, SEASPACE's Scholarship and Grants program has funded more than $520,000 in scholarships to students of the marine sciences and monetary awards to organizations involved in marine preservation projects. A SEASPACE Permanent Education Fund has been established, so as to enable the continuation of these awards for years to come.
SEASPACE wishes to express its profound appreciation to the exhibitors who have supported the show over the years, and made these financial commitments possible. Likewise, we wish to thank the hard-working staff and hundreds of volunteers who have made SEASPACE what our exhibitors tell us is the best organized and friendliest consumer dive show in the country.
Over the past decade, the SEASPACE Board of Directors has noted that times are changing for consumer and trade show events. With the proliferation of instant communication via the Internet, and television specials that can trump most any independent underwater film festival, the validity and imperative of staging an annual exposition may be on the wane.
After careful consideration, the SEASPACE Board of Directors has elected not to schedule a commercial booth-concentric exposition in 2008. Rather, SEASPACE is actively seeking avenues to continue its outreach and scholarship activities by other means. More information will be provided as plans progress, and the input of interested parties is welcomed.
SEASPACE, Inc. Houston, TX
SEASPACE, Inc. is a 501(c)3 corporation
| Last updated on 6/6/2010, by |  |
