Forty-one Gorham Middle School sixth grade students traveled to the Reserve today to take part in water quality monitoring with their teachers and five Reserve docents. The students divided into groups then participated in hands-on activities to learn about fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, and salinity in the water.

Docent Carol Davis has been working with students at the Reserve for nine years. She took a group of students to the beach to collect water samples, teaching about the functions of the marsh and invasive plant species, and pausing to point out deer tracks on the walk there. Carol was impressed by the group:

These kids are really tuned in.

Each child was eager to provide answers and follow directions from Davis. A child named Kaytlin shot her hand in the air to volunteer to wear the pair of gloves and red goggles needed to administer chemical packets to the water samples (to "fix" the oxygen in the water until the group could trek back to the teaching laboratory).

This is the first year Gorham Middle School has taught water quality in its curriculum said Patti Joyce, a language arts and social studies teacher at the school.

We hope to make this an annual event.