FOCUS: 5th graders on the Bay!

Fifth graders from Stratford and Stewart schools are participating in a new initiative this year known as F.O.C.U.S. (Fifth Grade, Outdoor Education, Community, Unity, Service). On September 16, 2009, F.O.C.U.S. began with a kick-off event at the Garden City Middle School. Members of Garden City's Class of 2017 posed for a group shot before embarking on their marine biology trip: a boating adventure on Long Island’s Great South Bay.

While on board, BOCES naturalists guided the students in a plankton tow and a dredging of the bay floor. Many different specimens were collected and examined under microscopes and in a touch tank. Water samples were also collected and tested for salinity, clarity, and temperature. The captain and crew of The Miss Freeport and The Dolphin taught the students about navigation and boat safety. A perfect ending to an already perfect day came when the crew led the students in a fishing session where many of the children even caught their own fish!

(The above was rephrased from today's Garden City News." See link.)

This is pretty cool. One of the guys I race against is the captain of a fishing boat (not mentioned here), who has been doing this in the off season for a few years. He loves it, and it's a good way for the fishing boat to make some money when it can't go fishing. And, of course, any time schools, clubs, or sailors can get kids on the water we should take it.

BOCES, in case you don't know, is a program run by the county that gives kids opportunities to do things outside the classroom. And it's especially great for kids who haven't been successful in traditional school settings. I often wish I had gone to BOCES for to be a carpenter or electrician.