The Marine Discovery Center has been a perfect fit for volunteer Ginny Lendian, who has worked with MDC’s education department since 2012.
Lendian taught in public schools for 30 years – mostly in San Antonio, Florida in Pasco County. She remembers taking her classes of school children to explore a Florida west-coast salt marsh in coastal New Port Richey and always wishing she could teach there.
Years later, following her retirement, Lendian was strolling a street festival in Edgewater and noticed a Marine Discovery Center tent at the event. She looked at the coastal displays and asked if they needed volunteers.
Her next stop was to an MDC Volunteer Orientation meeting. Lendian viewed the coastal ecosystems displays at the center and learned about MDC’s plans to restore a salt marsh in 2014. That’s when she decided she wanted to serve as an education volunteer.
“When I learned about MDC and the salt marsh plans, I thought, ‘Oh, this is my opportunity after all of these years!’” she said.
And that was the beginning.
Lendian went to work with children in MDC’s summer and holiday camps, as well as with young explorers (age 2-5) in Sea Squirts. She also has assisted with the Florida Master Naturalist classes conducted at the center twice a year and she volunteers at special events, such as the Lagoonacy festival.
During the summer camps, you might find “Miss Ginny” working with “Mr. Ron” (McKay) helping kids learn how to fish, or you might find her teaching arts & crafts and helping youngsters tap into their creativity to express what they have learned about the Indian River Lagoon.
I just like the variety of volunteering at MDC,” she said. “It’s always very exciting to see the kids catch their first fish or even their 10th fish, depending on the day.”
Lendian’s love of kids and teaching runs deep. Her teaching career began with high school students in northwestern Georgia, where she taught Spanish and social studies. She returned to Florida and got her certification to teach in grades K-6. She loved teaching kindergarten, but ended up teaching third grade, where she was most needed.
When asked if teaching at MDC is the same as teaching in the public school system, Lendian shook her head.
“In a school setting, it’s all about scores and teaching the kids for testing,” said Lendian. “At MDC, you’re teaching and giving children the opportunity to discover things about the ocean and ocean life. You give them the chance to discover for themselves. I think they learn a lot better that way.”
Having volunteered at MDC for six years, Lendian — who says she’s “still comfortable in a classroom” — has enjoyed seeing the center’s growth during the time she has been here. She helped with the planting days in the restored salt marsh and she is thrilled to watch the construction of the new amphitheater. She also keenly watched the addition of the center’s nature play area and butterfly garden.
“It’s been great watching MDC grow and to be a part of planting the salt marsh,” she said. “Just seeing the variety of people coming to the center now is really neat.”
Lendian says whenever she mentions to others that she volunteers at MDC, the reaction is always the same.
“They always say, ‘Oh, I love that place!’” Lendian added. “The Marine Discovery Center is not a huge theme park like SeaWorld, but it gives everyone so many opportunities to learn. It makes a connection with people.”
One opportunity to learn for Lendian was through the Florida Master Naturalist Program. She has taken the three core module classes to become a Florida Master Naturalist, but mostly for the chance to learn about the state where she has lived most of her life.
Having grown up inland in Central Florida, Lendian notes she has a special fondness for the upland or freshwater areas of the state.
“That’s the kind of Florida place where I have lived,” she said. “It’s very different from being on the coast, although I have always loved the beach.”
Interestingly, Lendian’s life started in a coastal community in the Caribbean. She was born in Havana, Cuba shortly before the revolution.
Her Cuban father was educated in the United States and her mother was from the U.S. They got married and went back to Cuba, but as the revolution began changing the tropical paradise they loved, they saw the political and social changes and made plans to leave the island.
“I was 5 years old when we left,” said Lendian. “I remember some of Cuba, but at that time, my parents were very protective of us and we weren’t allowed to be kids outdoors just because of the potential for danger. There were 16-year-olds fighting the revolution, shooting guns and being crazy, and my parents were overly protective.”
Because her father was an engineer, he was able to get a job in Baton Rouge, La., at a company that had a sister operation in Cuba. Once he was settled in a new position, her dad brought Ginny, her mom and three siblings to Louisiana, where they lived for six years before moving to Florida. Her mother became a teacher.
Even with some travel restrictions to Cuba lifted, Lendian has never returned to her homeland. As it often is with others who have left the island, there is still a fear that remains.
“I’m would be a little bit nervous to go back to Cuba,” she said. “The Castros are still alive, the Cuban government is still intact and I would be afraid of the potential consequences of going there.”
While Lendian says she is not fluent in Spanish, she can understand it. She currently assists her elderly father, who now lives in New Smyrna Beach. Her understanding of the language also has helped while working with Spanish-speaking students as a teacher.
Lendian also volunteers at the New Smyrna Beach Public Library, Edgewater Library, the Edgewater Animal Shelter and at Hospice. If you have reserved a book at the Edgewater Library, Lendian will be calling you to pick up your book. She also shelves books at the New Smyrna Beach Library and works with an arts & crafts class there.
In addition, she works in the kitchen and assists the head cook at Hospice and helps set up the family room with snacks and beverages. At the animal shelter, she launders the pet bedding.
“There are people who volunteer far more than I do, but I like to fill up my time,” she said. “I hate day-time television. I’m retired, but I need to stay busy.”
And she does just that at the Marine Discovery Center, where her involvement has everything to do with what she loves most as a lifelong teacher.
“I love to help others discover things,” she said. “And I’m in the right place to do that.”
Follow Us!