Student Scientists Gather at Fall Student Summits

Island Beach State Park

On October 5th over 200 student “scientists for the day” from all around South Jersey gathered in Island Beach State Park with their teachers, chaperones and local naturalists to participate in the 29th Annual Free Fall Student Summit.  Middle school students learned about marine science and environmental issues from MATES (Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences) students who led mini-lessons at the Environmental Roundtables on topics they had researched, such as Nonpoint Source Pollution, Local Invertebrates and Hurricanes.  Each middle school student was led on a field trip by a naturalist.  Field trips included a Nature Walk, Mollusk and Crustacean Hunt, Beachcombing, Seining, Clamming and Beach Sweep.

COA thanks all the field trip leaders for sharing their expertise and the gracious staff of beautiful Island Beach State Park for hosting us at their fabulous location. Waves of thanks to Jenkinson’s Aquarium for bringing critters and Dr. John Wnek from MATES for connecting his top-notch high school students to COA’s Student Summit. Thank you, John,
for inspiring the next wave of environmental stewards.

New York Student Summit

COA teamed-up with longtime friends and Participating Organization, the Natural Resources and Protective Association (NRPA), for the first New York Student Summit on October 25th at the Great Kills Park on Staten Island.  The School for Civic Leadership and Staten Island Academy students and their teachers were treated to a morning of outdoor hands-on lessons about their local ecology.  

The NRPA including our co-coordinator, Tony Rose, and COA’s Amanda Wheeler amassed an impressive assembly of local environmental groups and advocates who hosted the Environmental Roundtables on topics such as the Billion Oyster Project, Eels, Horseshoe Crabs, and Friends and Freshwater Marshes.  The Staten Island Zoo brought some local critters for  up close and personal encounters with students.  On the Field Trips, SCAPE taught students about their coastal resiliency project, the Staten Island Sport Divers showed students some cool SCUBA equipment, Gateway National Park Naturalists took students seining and soil testing, and members of the NRPA showed the students the joys of surfcasting.  COA Executive Director, Cindy Zipf, took students on a Beach Sweep where they documented and removed much unimaginable debris, literally including the kitchen sink! 

This event was made possible thanks to the support and vision of The Mental Insight Foundation, as well as all who participated, supported and coordinated this pilot project that we are anticipating will become a regular event!