Mr. Toole’s Freshwater Studies students released the Brown Trout they raised this school year into the Little Hoosic River on Wednesday 4/26.
This annual event is the culmination of BHS Science teacher Mr. Toole’s Trout in the Classroom project where students raise the Brown Trout from embryo, to alevin and finally to fingerling before releasing the trout to fully develop into adults.
Mr. Toole not only enjoys watching the student’s level of commitment to the trout but on release day his students are able to connect with their local ecosystem and learn from local Conservation Alliance members about the dynamic environment in which they live right here in Rensselaer County.
Mr. Robert Davis, President of Homewaters Chapter 586 Trout Unlimited https://homewaterstu.org/ and Director of the Rensselaer County Conservation Alliance (RCCA), Mr. Frank Dingman, President of the RCCA https://rccany.com/ and Mrs. Audrey Vanderhoef, a retired Berlin CSD Science teacher and active member of the Conservation Alliance, were there for the release.
The RCAA members are able to give the students great feedback on the work they are doing in their classroom and acknowledge the positive way in which they are impacting their environment.
This year’s release was on a beautiful spring day and the students spent an extended time along the banks of the Little Hoosick learning and discovering the food sources their trout will survive on. Learning that just lifting a rock out of the river bed provided a whole immersive lesson on food sources and life cycles.
This team of students was one of two high schools in Rensselaer County and the region to complete the Trout in the Classroom program this year.
Congratulations to students Kyle Duval, Alexis Rifenburg, Jessica Bosso, Nathanael Hendricks, Lillian Gardell and Juliann Amuso who took this project on as an independent study and successfully added over 40 trout, an important species, into the local ecosystem.
Brown trout have an ecological role in the biodiversity of rivers, lakes and streams. They play an important role in the food chains of this area, impacting small fish, mollusk and insect populations.
BHS Spanish teacher Ms. Day was excited to be a part of the release this year. She helped care for the trout on days the students or Mr. Toole were unable to. Thank you Ms. Day.
Superintendent Dhara, School Resource Officer Deputy McGuire, BHS Librarian/Math Teacher Ms. Overocker and BHS Science teachers Mr. Christian and Mr. Mellor also joined the students on the bank of the Little Hoosic River to celebrate their work.
Thank you to Mr. Davis and Mr. Dingman for providing the students with great t-shirts to mark the day’s event.
