Congressman Visits Shellfish in the Classroom

On Thursday May 19 Congressman Jon Runyan paid a visit to Harrington Middle School in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey to observe the Shellfish in the Classroom project that is in progress in Ms. Maureen Barrett's science room. Ms. Barrett, who was named the environmental educator of the year by the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education, and her students have been growing baby oysters in six two and half gallon tanks since February. Wes Dalzell and Frank Vives initially visited Ms. Barrett's environmental club in October and presented the idea of growing shellfish in the classroom. The students enthusiastically responded and in February the RCTB volunteers returned with 60 ten month old oysters.
Ten oysters were placed in each tank and different amounts of algae were fed to the various tanks. The students were responsible for maintaining the proper environment, checking the temperature and salinity of the water in the tank daily and measuring the size of the oysters weekly to determine growth.
The students demonstrated the knowledge they have gained by presenting the visitors with an outstanding power point presentation and their ability to explain what they are leaning.
Congressman Runyan spent over an hour in the classroom and was very impressed with the degree of knowledge the children exhibited and the value of the Shellfish in the Classroom project.