The Georgia Southern University Museum celebrates and presents its second annual Shark Week on July 9-15. The event promises to be bigger and better than ever, with a full week of shark activities filling the museum's daily schedule.
Several shark activities will be presented each day for locals to participate in while learning more about sharks.
Museum admission is $4 per person with free admission for Georgia Southern Students, museum members, and children aged 3 and younger.
Did you know that sharks have been around the planet longer than trees?
That’s right!
Some of the earliest sharks are recorded as appearing around 400-420 MILLION years ago (way before trees appeared on land). Sharks have weathered many different climate changes and oceanic movements (tectonic shifting) throughout the ages.
So, they are truly an incredible animal species!
Other interesting facts about sharks are that the SHARK TOOTH is Georgia’s state fossil, and July 14th is National Shark Awareness Day!
Sharks are very important to our ocean ecosystem, so the Georgia Southern Museum looks to celebrate this enduring marine animal all week long!
Here is the full list of GSU Museum Shark Week Events.
Sunday
Shark Week Begins (Museum open 2pm-5pm)
Monday
Museum Closed
Tuesday
1pm-5pm: “What Makes a Shark?” Activity with Center for STEM Education (Museum open 9am-5pm)
Wednesday
2pm-3pm: Livestream presentation and Q&A with earth science research vessel JOIDES Resolution (Museum open 9am-5pm)
Thursday
1pm-5pm: “What Makes a Shark?” Activity with Center for STEM Education (Museum open 9am-5pm)
Friday
1pm: Storytime with a Shark (Museum open 9am-5pm)
Saturday
8:30pm: Watch the movie JAWS for FREE on Sweetheart Circle with food trucks (Enjoy snow cones from Boro Sno, and food from The Saucy Shrimp.) (Museum open 5pm-10pm)
Georgia Southern Museum Curator, Stephanie Lukowski, said, “Shark week is our signature event here at the Georgia Southern Museum. This is the second year we are doing it, but it is bigger and better than last year. This year, we have a variety of interesting activities going on during most of the afternoons at the museum. For example, we will have a shark-matching game, a shark dissection to learn more about shark biology, and even watch a live broadcast with the research vessel JOIDES Resolution (to tour the ship and interact with the earth scientists). We will finish our Shark Week with a free screening of the classic JAWS movie on Sweetheart Circle. It is free to the public and we invite all locals to come out and participate.”
Dr. Brent Tharp, Director at the Georgia Southern Museum, added, “The reason behind having Shark week is to showcase how sharks play a very important part in the paleontological and cultural history story presented here at the museum -- especially with us being a coastal plain related museum. Sharks are a significant part of our permanent collections and our educational programming here at the museum. So, Shark Week provides a good opportunity during the summer for us to highlight an entire series of events, both looking at and celebrating sharks. The Georgia Southern Museum would like to thank our supporting faculty, our partners with the film, and our food vendors Boro Sno and the Saucy Shrimp.”
For more information on Shark Week:
Visit https://calendar.georgiasouthern.edu/event/shark_week_9010?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=Georgia+Southern or www.georgiasouthern.edu/museum.
Or email:
Stephanie Lukowski, Georgia Southern Museum Curator of Education, at slukowski@georgiasouthern.edu or Dr. Brent W. Tharp, Georgia Southern Museum Director, at btharp@georgiasouthern.edu.
The Georgia Southern Museum is located on Sweetheart Circle at 2142 Southern Dr., Statesboro, GA 30458.