South Carolina Aquarium Welcomes 10 Millionth Visitor

By: South Carolina Aquarium

Spring Break is on the horizon for schools across the country, and what better way is there to celebrate time off than by visiting the South Carolina Aquarium? For the D’Angelo family of Jacksonville, Florida, their Spring Break trip to Charleston became much more exciting as they redeemed their tickets and became the Aquarium’s 10 millionth visitor.

Last night, as Nic and Stacia D’Angelo sat planning their itinerary, it was decided that today would be the perfect day to visit the Aquarium with their daughters, Emery and Aubrey. As they hustled through Liberty Square, hoping to make it in time for their reservation, Aquarium staff and volunteers were lining up around the corner, excitedly awaiting to greet their 10 millionth visitor.

After being told that their family’s visit was a momentous occasion for the Aquarium, Nic, Stacia, Emery and Aubrey embraced their unexpected celebrity status and welcomed the red-carpet treatment. Staff and volunteers lined the entryway, filling the air with bubbles and applause. As the family entered the Aquarium’s Great Hall, Kevin Mills, president and CEO of the South Carolina Aquarium, warmly greeted the family, presented them with a special gift and thanked them for their support. The family was then escorted to the second floor to begin their exploration. One of the first exhibits they saw was Mountain Forest, where the Aquarium’s resident river otters, Charlie and Beau, were receiving celebratory enrichment to mark the occasion.

You could say that being in the right place at the right time is truly an understatement for the D’Angelos, as they had originally planned their trip to Charleston for January and had to postpone. What began as a seemingly normal day quickly transformed into an extraordinary morning for both the D’Angelos and the Aquarium, whose stories will now forever be woven together through shared memories.

Reaching 10 million visitors is the latest of many milestones that the Aquarium has achieved since opening in May of 2000. To date, the South Carolina Aquarium has rescued and released 338 sea turtles, provided free educational programming to 143,092 students across South Carolina, conducted virtual education programs that have reached all 50 states as well as 50 countries and worked with the community to clean 1,748,446 pieces of debris that have been recorded in the Litter-Free Digital Journal, a project in the South Carolina Aquarium Citizen Science app.

Since the inception of the High School Intern Program at the Aquarium in 2004, nearly 400 students have gone through training classes, 200 of which stayed on to work as paid, seasonal staff. Since 2006, 3,313 volunteers have completed a combined 833,210 hours of service to the Aquarium. 130 of those volunteers individually served 1,000 hours, and one in particular dedicated 8,600 hours alone.

The South Carolina Aquarium community truly stretches far and wide. Thanks to local, national and international supporters with a passion for conservation and education, the Aquarium is able to provide exceptional care to their animal residents while continuing to connect people to water, wildlife and wild places.

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