West Shore SD middle schoolers enjoy ‘floating classroom’ experience

Students from Crossroads Elementary School in West Shore SD are learning more about local ecology and their impact on the environment through the Susquehanna Watershed Education Program (SWEP), one of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 15 field education programs. Recently a group of 18 seventh- and eighth-grade students climbed in canoes and headed down the river with SWEP educators for a “floating classroom” experience. Students learned how to handle a canoe, collected samples of species found in the area using a seine net, and tested the health of the water. The purpose of the activity was to help students learn more about their local environment how they can make a positive impact. Other schools in York City and Eastern York High have taken similar trips through the SWEP this semester.