Hi all,

We had a great program here last night. Sue Perkins came to speak about
Great White Sharks in the Gulf of Maine. She's working on an
initiative called "respect the locals," teaching people about shark
behavior and how to coexist with them. She had a very informative
PowerPoint presentation and bought two displays with a variety of shark
facts (including photos of what swimming and surfing humans look like from
a shark's perspective). We had an audience ranging in age from about 12 to
about 80 and every one stayed for about 20 minutes after the presentation
to ask questions. She's a teacher so she was very good at tailoring her
answers to different age levels and holding the audience's attention.

Sue is interested in bringing her program, which she offers at no charge,
to other libraries. She didn't specify how far she'd be able to travel, but
she lives in Freeport.

Here's her bio:

"Sue Perkins is a graduate student in Biology in Miami University’s
(Oxford, OH) Project Dragonfly program. Her research focus for the past two
years has been on the presence of white sharks in the Gulf of Maine. As
part of her conservation outreach and course work, she has received a Maine
SeaGrant to develop a pop-up educational booth called *Respect the Locals*.
Sue will be taking the booth to state park beaches as well as coastal
community events to talk about sharing the waters of the Gulf with white
sharks, how to be *Shark Smart and Shark Safe* when using the water
recreationally, and the conservation success story that is going on in the
Gulf of Maine. Sue is also a science teacher at Brunswick High School."

You can reach Sue at: [log in to unmask]

Allison Atkins
Assistant Director/Head of Adult Services
Kennebunk Free Library
112 Main St.
Kennebunk, ME 04043
(207)985-2173 x102