A dedication ceremony for a new waterfront teaching facility linked with Buffalo State Collegeis proposed multi-million dollar Maritime Center initiative will take place at 10 a.m., Wednesday (Sept. 13) on the grounds of the collegeis Great Lakes Center field laboratory for Environmental Research and Education , 7 Porter Ave., next door to the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center.
The Dick Smith Teaching Pavilion is a glass-walled, indoor/outdoor classroom built to enhance and support the learning experience of college students involved in maritime studies as well as to provide local schools and community groups a waterfront outlet for education.
The facility — situated just a few yards from the watersi edge and a life-preserversi toss away from the site of the West Side Rowing Clubis soon-to-be-built Frank Lloyd Wright boathouse — is an early component of a proposed waterfront maritime campus, plans for which include an historic watercraft museum and a boat-building center.
According to Great Lakes Center Director Gordon S. Fraser, one of the purposes of the one-story, 25i by 40i structure, was to establish a learning environment close to the water.
iIt was designed to take advantage of its location right there on the Niagara River,i said Fraser, who noted that the building has retractable glass walls on three sides. iIt can be opened up and people can feel the wind and hear the water.i
Already utilized by college students and various community groups this past summer, the facility, which seats 60, will be open to inner-city school kids involved with Buffalo State Collegeis nationally recognized boat-building programs. One such program gives area youth the opportunity to build a boat over the course of a six-week period. Upon completion, the kids get to put their work to the test by putting the boats in the water.
iItis a pretty fun thing to see these kids out there paddling their own boats around,i said Fraser.
John Freidhoff, an oceanographer and field station manager of the Great Lakes Center, said he hopes to use the boat launching events as a teaching opportunity.
iWeire emphasizing this as an outreach program,i he said. iWe want to teach inner-city kids how to build boats and then use the boats to teach them science.i
The Great Lakes Centersi field laboratory is situated on about five acres of land on the Black Rock channel near the head of the Niagara River. The facilities there support high-level research in a variety of disciplines including watershed hydrology, water quality, environmental toxicology and chemistry, aquatic ecology, fisheries, urban ecology, and environmental education. Buffalo State College is the only school in the SUNY system operating an on-shore experimental laboratory on the Great Lakes and offering a graduate program in Great Lakes Environmental Studies
The classroom was named for retired Hamburg assemblyman Dick Smith, who was responsible for initiating fund raising for the project by securing a grant. During his career, Smith was known for his work on lake-related environmental issues, particularly invasive species like Zebra Mussels and Gobies.
iThat was his big mission,i said Fraser. iHeis been a champion for the great Lakes.i
According to John Montague, director of the Buffalo State College Community Maritime Center, the completion of the teaching pavilion is a component of a much-larger project — to create a state-of-the-art educational, cultural, and research complex on Buffalois Waterfront.
The proposed $3.5 million, 11,500-square-foot facility, said Montague, would provide waterfront access to the surrounding community, celebrate the rich maritime heritage of the of the region, and house the collegeis established community outreach and boat-building programs.
Wednesdayis dedication ceremony is open to the public and may, weather permitting, include free boat rides on the more than 800 watercraft built through the collegeis boat-building programs. For more information, contact the Great Lakes Center (716) 878-4329.