Eckerd College Waterfront Alumni

09/17/2026

Another great day at the Eckerd College Waterfront Program!

Anytime we can release another rehabilitated manatee back into the wild is truly a win for all involved.

Today, Cascade the male manatee was returned to Boca Ciega Bay after spending some time in the care of ZooTampa . He was rescued earlier this year by Florida Fish and Wildlife's Marine Mammal Pathobiology Lab and Eckerd College Search And Rescue

Eckerd students, faculty, staff, and friends joined to watch this gentle giant swim off, as he came back to the ramp a few times seemingly to say a few more thank yous and goodbyes:-)

07/23/2026

07/01/2026

Hello Waterfront Alumni!

I am now officially RETIRED from my position as Director of Waterfront at Eckerd College. I arrived on Eckerd's campus as a freshman in 1979 and never left after graduation. I have spent 47 years of my life on that campus, working with the wonderful students, staff, faculty and alumni. They are my family and Eckerd will always be my home. I will always be involved as an alumna and will find ways to support the Waterfront and College in that role. Handing in my keys and driving away last night was one of the hardest things I've ever done! 😢

However, I know that the Waterfront will continue to grow and improve through the endless support of our alumni and other members of our Eckerd community. The Waterfront staff who are the most committed, hard working people I know, will continue to take care of our students and the program as a whole. Ryan Dilkey '98 is now the Interim Director of the Waterfront and Krista Park '22 is the Asst. Director and is responsible for the overall management of EC-SAR. The place is in good hands! I wish them the best with lots of love and I will always be available if they need me. That is if I'm not too busy playing in the yard with our plants and critters, or on a fabulous trip in some magical place around the world.

Congratulations, Ryan! You've got the helm! 😊

06/12/2026

MANATEE RESCUE: A young manatee with wounds from a watercraft incident and shark bites was rescued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/young-manatee-with-wounds-from-watercraft-shark-rescued-in-st-petersburg/

06/05/2026

04/23/2026

Hello Waterfront Alumni!

I've been speaking with a few Eckerd colleagues, trying to figure out what Brown Hall looked like in the 70s/80s when the game room, bowling alley, pub, snack bar, etc. were there before the changes were made to create what is there today. Does anyone have photos or information that might help us with our curiosity?

Thank you for your help!

04/18/2026

EckerdGives2026 was a huge success! The goal of 1500 donors was reached and our own Krista Park '22 clinched the win as top Ambassador, encouraging 61 donors to make a gift to the Waterfront. Thank you to those who came through in the final hours of our effort: David Borowski, Tanner McNulty, Mark Verrico, Ella Crosby, Natalie Johnson, Maiah Brush, Josie Hook, Lynn Rogahn, Garrett Monfre, Eric Lundin, Jordan Kuperberg, Alex Creed, Josh Wallace, Hannak Cox, Aaron Cox, Rick Wiatroski, Cory and Rick Scheibe, Alice Best, Jin Brurgess, Zach Raves, Dave Stepanek, Shay Dooley, and Leila Koenig!

Thanks to everyone that made a donation to ensure the Waterfront can continue to provide the programming and support to all of Eckerd College!

04/16/2026

The final push for EckerdGives2026 in on!! More thanks to all those that have donated since our last post...
Aiden McKinnon, Nathan Lindley, Sadra Tapfumaneyi, Elenora Pagura, Gary Serventi, Jaime Wilki Corvin, Tracy Park, Mark Sippel, Molly Schad, Andrew Delventhal, Ava Ruston, Georgia Summers, Stef Lorimer, Geaorge Bailey, Jett Elin, Billy Clegg, Aidan Reisig, Amanda Landers, Mark Yamane, Brain Gregson, Roberta O'Malley, Jacob and Logan Harpring, Tony Henner, Todd Godfrey, Shane Graves, Meg and Jeff Sippel, Tom moore, And Ada Lester-Boal!

04/15/2026

Our trusted Alumni AND STUDENTS continue to give! We are more than half way through EckerdGives2026, and we still have work to do. Remember, the goal is # of donors, not a dollar amount, so ANY GIFT COUNTS. If you still haven't made a donation to the Waterfront, please do so by going to
https://eckerdgives.eckerd.edu/p2p/656956/krista-park-b2c02a6c-0211-4f19-89fb-ae257a65da47

Thanks to our recent donors Jennifer Lindley, Emily Foard, Tonya Womack, Josh Annarelli, Emil Sandrowicz, Margs Musson, Chris Andrisani, Jayden Jech, Hal Sullivan, Damien Dowling, Lydia Cox, Kevin Dickson, Tyler Massey, Dom Campanella, Fielding Grasty, Scott Ferrara, Greg Mino, Ryan Dilkey, Makenzie Cromley, Garrett Hickman, Natalie Gransky, Gianna McKinley, Calista Lundell, Gianna Damico, Lori, Caddoo, Ben Caddoo, Alana Buffardi, Dominique Lazarre, Matthew Erdos, Michael Kingsford, Amy Ohnstad, Mark Schreiter, Bex Meadows, Nancy Bertling, Bill Schmidt, and John Freeman.

Help Krista Park '22's ambassador efforts for Eckerd Gives 2026

04/15/2026