SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | MAY 9, 2021
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OdySea gives foster families whale of a good time BY KRISTINE CANNON Progress Staff Writer
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dySea Aquarium opened an hour early on May 1 to host 100 foster families, or roughly 500 people, who had the entire multilevel, 200,000-square-foot aquarium to themselves. Kicking off National Foster Care Month, this event was the OdySea Aquarium Foundation’s and Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation’s way of thanking those who have opened their homes to vulnerable children. The two foundations purchased tickets so the families could enjoy more than 70 exhibits featuring 370 species of animals and catch a show at OdySea Aquarium’s theatre where
Oliver Mayer, 11, Landon Mayer, 14, Caribe Mayer, 12, and Eve Mayer, 8, were among the nearly 100 foster families who had the entire OdySea Aquarium to themselves on May 1. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer)
attendees moved past four 46-foot viewing windows featuring sharks, sea turtles, sea lions and more. The foster families were among the first guests to see Voyager’s new audio “show.” “We realize for many of these children, this might be their first trip to OdySea, and with all there is to see and learn from our engaging exhibits full of remarkable land and sea animals, we know this visit will be an impressionable one,” Pam Palermo, executive director of the OdySea Aquarium Foundation. Mesa foster mom Jen Mayer said her kids loved petting the stingrays. “It was wonderful to spend the morning with other foster families
see FOSTER page 20
Students’ clothing designs on display PROGRESS NEWS STAFF
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he work of some young fashion designers from the East Valley Institute of Technology is being showcased all month at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Laundry Lab, a student brand within EVIT’s Fashion Design & Merchandising program, is displaying Metamorphx on the second floor of the mall’s newly renovated luxury wing, across the walkway from Macy’s. Laundry Lab is a student-led, multidisciplinary design collective in the fashion and design merchandising program at EVIT. The collective is advised by EVIT fashion instructor Landry Low, an alumna of the EVIT fashion program and the prestigious Pratt Institute design school in New York.
This pair of shoes is one of the items by EVIT fashion design students. (Courtesy of EVIT)
Some of the students' is wildly imaginative. (Courtesy of EVIT)
“Equal parts fashion collection and visual merchandising installation, Metamorphx is a reflection on students’ experiences, obstacles and achievements during the past year and a half of socialdistancing, quarantining and navigating interactions remotely,” Low said. The exhibition at Scottsdale Fashion Square is designed to be viewed from windows but soon EVIT’s fashion program will be launching a new website where viewers can experience the exhibit in a more immersive way. The website will also include an exhibition film produced in collaboration with EVIT’s Video Production program that serves as both a living “look book” and a detailed walk-through of the exhibition and collection. The website will also have an accom-
see EVIT page 20
