The Dunes Center has received a $25,000 grant from Phillips 66 to fund nature and science education programs. The money will go toward continuing to provide high-quality educational opportunities to underserved students.

Programming includes science, technology, engineering and math programs to students of all ages.

Formal education programs include guided student field trips to Oso Flaco Lake and classroom science presentations such as birds and mammals that align with California State Education Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

Informal education opportunities are available through 10-week afterschool programs held in partnership with local schools and community organizations. Recent topics include geology and botany; oceanography will be offered this summer.

ERG Resources also announced at the center’s annual fundraiser in June that it will pledge the funding necessary for the center to complete another archaeological project at the site where Cecil B. DeMille filmed the original The Ten Commandments in 1923.

Started in 2014, the excavation of a sphinx from one of the largest movie sets ever built is a significant symbolic and historic archeological project.

Continued excavation work will allow the Dunes Center to exhibit the sphinx statue in its entirety for educational purposes while driving tourism in Guadalupe.

The support adds to contributions from the Towbes Foundation and Santa Barbara County’s Coastal Resource Enhancement Fund.

Funding also will allow the Dunes Center to hire a professional art restorer to preserve the historic statuary and reassemble it so it can be displayed to the public.

“The Dunes Center is one of ERG’s most valuable community partner,” said Alan White, CEO ERG Resources.

“Their commitment to historic and environmental protection and preservation warrants the support of our company and the communities the center serves,” White said.

“This is the least we could do to help,” he said.

As one of the most important coastal protection organizations, the California State Coastal Conservancy has been a critical resource for the Dunes Center over the years.

This year the Coastal Conservancy was able to grant more than $47,500 to the Dunes Center for the Explore the Coast program.

Through this program, all of Guadalupe’s 155 fifth-grade students were engaged in hands-on classroom lessons about watersheds and ecosystems, as well as field trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Channel Islands National Park, and Oso Flaco Lake.

A grant from Chevron covered the cost of materials for the program.

Dunes Center programming helps extend the learning day for students, provide in-depth information and activities about exciting science subjects, and allows college students to give back to the community.

The Dunes Center is a natural history museum in historical Guadalupe, that works to conserve the unique ecosystem of the local dunes through education, research, and cooperative stewardship.

Known for its display of artifacts from the movie The Ten Commandments, the Dunes Center also offers guided community hikes, classroom education programs, and nature field trips that focus on the area’s history, as well as local flora and fauna.
 
For more information, visit www.dunescenter.org.
 
— Christina Hernandez for The Dunes Center.