CLAYPOOL – Kids throughout Kosciusko County are learning what goes on beneath the lakes they live near from the comfort of their own school.
At Claypool Elementary, thanks to a partnership with LouisDreyfus Commodities, students there are responsible for taking care of an aquarium filled with bluegill.
Different students are responsible for feeding the fish and keeping the water clean.
The program comes from Kosciusko Lakes and Streams’ Lake in the Classroom program.
The schools are not only given an aquarium but also a library of books involving freshwater ecology to better learn the science of local lakes and streams and in turn gain a greater appreciation for them.
Several sixth-graders from John Shively’s class were at the aquarium Monday to look at and feed the fish.
Jared Hawley eagerly volunteered to help take care of the fish.
Hawley is also one of a number of kids involved in an art project sponsored by KLAS.
Claypool School secretary Janeen Meinert said the kids have really taken a liking to having the aquarium in the main office.
“We try to let all the kids have a chance to take care of them,” said Meinert. “The kids really do enjoy it. And it creates an awareness.”
KLAS staff provide ongoing support to the teacher and class and disassembled the aquarium at the end of the school year. KLAS has 11 aquariums in local schools this year.
The program also meets state standards for science education.
KLAS is able to make this program available to schools free of charge with the help of community sponsors:
Winona Lake Preservation Association – Lakeview Middle School
Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation – two at Syracuse Elementary
Paragon – Pierceton Elementary
Louis Dreyfus Commodities – Claypool Elementary
Kosciusko Community Hospital – Milford Elementary
Silveus Insurance Group – Jefferson Elementary and Warsaw Christian
Tippecanoe Watershed Foundation – North Webster Elementary
Kosciusko County Community Foundation’s Help Your Community program and Madison Elementary PTO – Madison Elementary
Kosciusko County Community Foundation’s Help Your Community program – Leesburg Elementary
