Contact:

Nate Drag, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Literacy Specialist, E: nwd4@cornell.edu, P: (716) 645-3610

Town of Clayton, NY, August 5, 2021 - Indian River High School is giving summer school a whole new meaning.

As WWNY-TV 7's News report John Pirsos explains, six students are getting credit for doing biology experiments. They spent part of the day Thursday in the water at Grass Point State Park near Clayton doing plant and fish surveys.

Masters and PhD students from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry helped guide the students and collect data.

“This is a really unique experience to work with college level professors at just a ninth grade level kid. This is just something that’s not usually done. It’s the first time we’ve had a partnership like this,” said Andrea Inserra, biology teacher, Indian River High School.

Inserra says the program is free for students and was made possible through New York Sea Grant.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.