Trout In The Classroom

Trout in the classroom (TIC) provides an innovative and exciting way for young people to become stewards of the environment through a meaningful and enjoyable combination of hands-on and classroom experience.

The central purpose of TIC is to create in youngsters a durable understanding and appreciation of the importance of clean water, the preservation and enhancement of natural resources, protection of the environment and the value of maintaining healthy populations of sport fisheries as an indicator of environmental quality. A collateral purpose is to encourage young people to enjoy sport fishing as part of a healthy life-style and a way to connect with nature.

A combination of PPTU and school resources funds the program. Each school obtains and sets up a 55- gallon aquarium, with a chiller, sterilizer, circulating air pump and other equipment and material to test and maintain the tank's water quality. PPTU supplies fertilized Kamloops Rainbow trout eggs, trout food and technical support. The state Department of Natural Resources provides permits for trout rearing and stocking as well as technical support for the release of the trout in the spring.

From its beginnings two Montgomery County schools five years ago, the program now has expanded to 12 schools: five in Montgomery County, three each in Howard and Frederick counties and one in Carroll County.The schools are:

Montgomery County – Beverly Farms, Poolesville, Stedwick and Westbrook elementary schools, and Robert Frost Middle School

Howard County – Hammond and Swansfield elementary schools, and Burleigh Manor Middle School

Carroll County – Gerstell Academy

Frederick County – New Market, Urbana and Windsor Knolls middle schools

Schools prepare their aquariums in November for arrival of the eggs in early January. Shipped overnight on ice, the eggs are donated to PPTU by the Washington state hatchery which DNR uses for its own trout stocking program, thereby guaranteeing disease-free eggs. Within a few hours of their arrival, PPTU volunteers divide the eggs into shares for each school and deliver them.

The program is so popular at Westbrook that the students have set up a TIC website. Moreover, weekly updates on the progress of the hatchlings are broadcast on the school's radio and TV programs and appear on signage throughout the school. Many children at all the schools also bring their parents to observe the trout and children crowd around the tanks daily to see how the fish are doing.

PPTU members are now in the process of becoming foster aunts and uncles to over 2000 baby Kamloops rainbow trout through schools in the the 2007-8 TIC program!