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It wasn’t an everyday sight at Unity School: baby Red Slider turtles, a humpback whale rib bone, scaly lizards, and two marine and wildlife experts from Florida Flora & Fauna to relate stories about these and more critters during their 18th Annual Earth Day celebration.

The celebration at the Delray Beach school also included a fundraiser for tsunami relief and rainforest restoration program.

Under the direction of Student Government and the Builder’s Club/Kiwanis, students at Unity School raised more than $4,400 for Tsunami Relief entitled “Change for Positive Change”. The coins were collected in a massive water bottle, symbolic of the disaster. Each day, dozens of students dropped off their allowances and their parents’ change from the stores to practically fill the bottle a hundred times.

School officials also announced that Unity School has saved 375 acres of rainforest through its Earth Days.

The festivities included talks from Delray Beach’s Recycling Director Jennifer Buce and a couple of Delray Beach lifeguards who educated students about where and when to join the sea creatures swimming in the ocean.

The 400 students, aged 2 to 14 and sporting “Save the Planet” t-shirts, were watching with wide eyes and gaping mouths at the affair entitled “Blue and Beautiful – Planet Earth.”

Florida Flora & Fauna experts Marti and John Welch of St. Lucie displayed live sea animals and artifacts such as a whale’s rib bone over eight feet long, to the entire school. Students of all classes were able to touch and some of the marine animals with one finger.

The animals showed students the real sensations of the vast array of scales, spines and skin that the creatures sport, said school officials. Some of the critters, such as the spindly sea urchin, which can emit a poison, were displayed in the boldly etched “Look, Don’t Touch” tank.

“Not all the children can see these creatures in the water, so we bring the creatures to them,” Marti Welch said with a big smile.

“Our children amaze us, showing how inquisitive they are about creatures on Earth Day,” Unity School Headmistress Maria Barber said. “Our students are very tuned in to being good earth-keepers. I see them around campus and in town, picking up litter and cleaning the beaches. Some send in their allowances to save the rainforest. I’m very grateful and satisfied that these young people are learning lifelong lessons about keeping our environment safe.”

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