Tampa Bay, Fla. — Hillsborough and Pinellas County 4-H, and the University of Florida Geomatics Extension program, welcomed intermediate and senior 4-H youth to the “Map Quest: Scallop Habitats” workshop.
It was part of series of workshops — proposed by Katie Britt, assistant director for Geomatics Extension at the UF School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) — that were funded by a Tampa Bay Estuary Program mini-grant. The project is designed to educate youth about their environment while exploring geospatial tools and careers.
Collaborating with Hillsborough County 4-H Agent Amber Norris, and Pinellas County 4-H Agent Emily Schoenfelder, organizers held events at the Sun Coast Youth Conservation Center and at Hillsborough County Parks. Intermediate and senior 4-H youth — ages 11-13 and 14-18 — participated in three of a series of four workshops.
“When 4-H youth dive into hands-on projects, something powerful happens: the abstract becomes real,” Norris said. “They stop just looking at the world and start interacting with it.
“The Map Quest event provided the perfect platform for our youth to experience nature firsthand, learn the science behind it, and ultimately build a personal connection that inspires them to care for and protect our environment.”
Participants learned about the importance of bay scallops in Tampa Bay, identifying key ecosystem factors needed for healthy scallop populations and how to measure them. They collected data using traditional and remote sensing methods using sonar, which were used to create profiles of the transects youth collected either from kayak or on a boardwalk.
Geospatial analysis included creating contour maps from the bathymetric data and identifying possible locations for scallop beds in Tampa Bay using geographic information system methods to compare nautical chart depth and sea grass locations, identifying potential search sites for events like the 2026 Great Bay Scallop Search.
The Geomatics Extension program will make the curriculum and technology kits available to educators after completion of the series of workshops. The curriculum is designed to allow students to explore their environment using hands-on lesson while learning geospatial skills and being exposed to careers in marine surveying and geospatial analysis.
While the workshops are all-day events, the curriculum is designed to be used at various lengths of events, with some lessons standing alone and being available for indoor or outdoor use.
Though the event used basic fish finders, the principles and analysis work the same way as equipment and processing used by the marine surveying industry and by GIS professionals.
“The hands-on practice collecting real-world data is great experience for the future,” Schoenfelder said. “It was such an amazing opportunity to expose our youth to skills and information that they may not encounter anywhere else.”
Many youth are unaware of careers in surveying and mapping, allowing the 4-H Beyond Ready program and the Geomatics Extension programs to collaborate seamlessly.
“There are so many opportunities for careers in mapping in Florida, but many people don’t know what surveyors do,” Britt said. “We’re trying to bring more visibility to the profession and put more youth on the track to these rewarding careers.”
The series includes one more upcoming senior 4-H event targeting 14-18 year olds Aug. 15. Participants can register through this link and do not have to be current members of 4-H or residents of Hillsborough or Pinellas counties to attend.
The Tampa Bay Estuary Programs’ Bay Mini-Grants, which made this project possible, are partially supported by purchases of the “Tarpon Tag” license plate. If you have a “Tarpon Tag,” we appreciate your support of this project and others for environmental restoration and education. Remember that applications are accepted annually for non-profits, businesses, and educational institutions working on projects in the Tampa Bay watershed.
Learn more about the UF School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) Geomatics Extension program here. Contact Katie Britt, assistant director for UF/IFAS Geomatics Extension at the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences. Reach her at k.britt@ufl.edu.
Our mission is to provide surveying education and workforce development programs to both the Florida surveying industry and the public.
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