W. Va. — It’s Friday, and you’re sitting in class, impatiently waiting for the bell to ring so you and your friends can go home to play sports or video games.
Exciting, right? An activity that most see regularly throughout the week.
Here’s something that may be unfamiliar to some.
Inspired from a previous trip to West Virginia Botanic Garden, for the first time, Suncrest Elementary School partnered with Friends of Deckers Creek to release brook trout the students raised since the beginning of the school year.
With help from Trout Unlimited, Vada Boback and her fourth-grade science class had an opportunity to witness the school projects they worked on all year come to fruition in front of their eyes.
“We integrated Trout Unlimited curriculum into our science and math, so we did data collection, made charts, and wrote dual perspective poems using trout as our inspiration,” Boback said.
Trout Unlimited, an organization that focuses on conserving and protecting fisheries, visited the class to share information, while also providing students with eggs, giving the kids opportunity to raise them through their life cycle.
“We try to reach all of our learning styles, and it’s a natural learning style,” Boback said.
In some cases, a teacher simply presenting the idea to a class isn’t convincing enough for students.
Not with this class.
“I already like taking care of animals and this really interested me,” said Dane Gerdes, a fourth- grader.
Friends of Deckers Creek assisted by providing a location for the students and their families.
“We’re proud to work with students who are invested in the health of their community,” said Emma Carte, education coordinator of FODC. “It gives us hope that one day they’ll be able to enjoy a fully remediated Deckers Creek full of brook trout.”
