Brenda J (BJ) Ramer, M. Ed.

Founder & Director  TEAM ECCO, Inc.

 Director of Adventures

 Volunteer

 Brenda received her BS in Education from the Univ. of Cincinnati and her Master's Degree in Education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ.  She has more than 12 years of classroom teaching experience ranging from special populations to the gifted. Brenda is an active substitute teacher for the Henderson County Public Schools.  She is married to attorney Tom Ramer and they have 3 children: Kate; Angela; and Michael. " I started TEAM ECCO as a way for education to be more.  It is about thinking outside of the box.  I believe thatexperience is the best teacher, and having a successful learning experience can change a life." 

Level 1 Scuba Instructor, MDEA # S12190         Willis Inssurance # 30974   

Member PADI Diving Society # 014762181      

PADI Instructor Emergency First Aid / CPR   # EFR 2430

Member DAN ( Divers Alert Network) # 1277684

DAN Instructor Emergency O2   # 13097

Diane LeDane

Director of Goods and Services

 Board Member /  Volunteer

Diane begins her third year of travel with TEAM ECCO.   She volunteers as co-ordinator for meals and snacks while the TEAM is on the road.  Making arraingments for feeding an average of 40 people at a time is not an easy task!  Diane also collects donations from local food and drink distributors for the travel adventures.  When home, she works at both The Dedars for Tom Shipman, and at Highland Lake Inn.  She is very thankful for the support these places show to TEAM ECCO by letting her work around travel schedules.   " What these kids get out of these trips is wonderful.  They learn as much about themselves as they do about what they are studying."

Jack Creson

 Board Member

Dir. of Transportation; Runion Tours and Charters

 Jack has been the primary driver for TEAM ECCO adventures for the last 3 years.  He is a favorite TEAM member among the children, who affectonately call him "Captain Jack".  He does more than get the TEAM form place to place - he makes stops for icecream, maintains the wireless microphone system, manges the visual aides, and drive us for grocery runs.  He even donated a video camera with watertight housing to the program so our divers could learn underwater videography skills!  

Greg Mesa, P.A.

Highland Family Medical Practice

Board Member / Medical Volunteer              

Greg Mesa is a registered and licenced physician's assistant.   Greg has done numerous TEAM ECCO travel adventures covering the medical needs of studetns and occasionally chaperones and TEAM leaders.   He has an Advanced Diver certification card with PADI.  Greg has two sons that participate in TEAM ECCO learning adventures, and accompanies the TEAM on several ed-ventures each year.

Thomas Reiter

Volunteer / Assistant Curator

Thomas is a regular volunteer at the Ed-venture Center.  He brings a great amount of personal knowledge on the care and conditioning of salt water tanks and marine fish.   Thomas, as Assistant Curator, is responsible for all tank maintenance and animal care and feeding in the absence of the Ed-venture Center Director.  

Nora C. Mosrie

Nora C. Mosrie Fine Art and Design Studio

 TEAM Arist / Creative Consultant

  Nora has traveled with TEAM ECCO adventures for several years and  is the roaming "artist in residence" for the program.  From her, the children learn the basics of line, shape, perspective, color, view, blending, and sequence.  they put is all into beautiful works of multi-media art ranging from canvas and fabric painting to clay to papermaking to sand sculpting.  Nora brings out in the children what they may not be able to express with words.  

 Gloria Cunningham, RN

Medical Volunteer / TEAM notary

 Gloria has been a traveling TEAM nurse for 2 years.   She accompanies us as our medical volunteer with adventures for grades 6-8 as she travels on TEAM ECCO Adventures with her grandaughter.    

Allison Romstadt

Lead Chaperone / Volunteer

Allison has been a TEAM ECCO chaperone for 4 years and has done enough trips to earn her "official" TEAM shirt!  All three of her children have participated in TEAM ECCO Adventures, and her son, Grayson, is one of the elite A TEAM Divers.   

Robbie Harvey

PADI Scuba Instructor                      Bermuda Triangle Dive Shop

Robbie is contracted to work with and do dive certifications for new TEAM ECCO Divers.   Robbie has been with TEAM ECCO for 4 years, supporting our programs with training and working as the contact for Bermuda Triangle Dive Shop, one of our best business partners.                                                  

Pat Stafford

TEAM reef guide and instructor

Scuba instructor PADI                           

 Pat is the official TEAM ECCO Divers guide to the Florida Reefs and the Pennekamp Staate  Park and national Marine Sanctuary.   Pat has taken our divers on several reefs, both natural and artificial, and is there to help educatte and brief us for reef life observations, especially the sharks!  Pat is currently working with our divers to expand their training and will run them through advanced, rescue, and dive master classes in August 2010.

TEAM ECCO Divers:  A TEAM members

These divers have varied experience in both fresh and salt water, from shallow reefs to 100 feet down in caverns.  In 2007, they were awarded  letters of merrit from local and state officials for their training during a 24 hour saturation dive.  These 10 students also spent time diving off of Grand Bahama Island in the summer of 2008, where they did comparison/contrast of Bahamian reef systems with those found in the southern US National Marine Sanctuary.  They observed dolphins trained to travel between captivity and open water, and a controlled shark feed done with UNEXSO divers.  Many of these divers also volunteer to help with snorkel safety, SASY, and new diver classes.  They have also worked with programs for both Boy and Girl Scout troops and participated in youth fund raisers for the YMCA.

      
 Jessica Allison

PADI Open Water Cert.

Kelsey Cawthorn

PADI Open Water Cert.

 Rachel Simpson

 PADI Open Water Cert.  

 Student Assist: SASY, Discover Scuba      

Morgan Walker

PADI Cert.   Advanced Open Water      

Registered Life Guard

Student Assist: Snorkel Safety, Discover Scuba, OpenWaterCert.

  Matthew Carlock

PADI Cert.      Open Water                                  

 Scott Davis

PADI Cert.      Open Water 

  Jono Eddy

PADI Cert.     Open Water  

Grayson Romstadt

PADI Cert.   Open Water

Student Assist:  Discover Scuba

Louie Sinclair

PADI Cert.      Open Water

Michael Ramer

PADI Cert.  Advanced Open Water

Student Assist: SASY, Snorkel Safety,                          Discover Scuba, Open Water Cert.

                                                                  Completed special training with Cristina Zenato of UNEXSO in shark feeding & tonic immobility behavior 2/4-8/09                                                                

TEAM ECCO Divers :  New-Bees  

These divers have been certified either through the TEAM ECCO program with Bermuda Triangle Dive Shop or an independent dive shop and have completed their PADI Open Water or Jr. Open Water Certification.  They have limitted dive experience with TEAM ECCO dive adventures.

ACTIVE:  logged dive within 12 months

Seth Alexander                        Cody Allen                 Andrew Baber                      Adam Calton                          Derek Campano               Brent Coburn               Chandler Cosgrove             Meaghan Dugan              Caroline Hansley               Carolyn Hernandez              Lydia Hernandez         Tuesday Grace Sinclair              Zachary Smith                       Alex Zinni

  Aqua Guides

This group of student volunteers have completed special training at the Ed-venture Center.  They log in at least one hour a week of volunteer time, help with daily aquarium needs, create learning posters for displays, assist with special programs, and serve as greeters and docents for visitors.   the Aqua Guide program is sponsored in part by:

Dr John Strickland, DDS;  Economy Drug Store;  Southern Alarm & Security