Students Emma Lawler, Lilly Duschen, Anyssia Ingersoll and Adrianna Denton hold up bags of trash collected during a recent field trip to Selkirk Shores State Park where the entire seventh grade class learned about aquatic ecology.
MEXICO – Relaxation on a sunny day, dipping toes in cool water and feeling sand in between your toes are all privileges community residents having living so close to New York State park beach access.
About 150 Mexico Middle School seventh graders recently learned that all of those benefits may be interrupted or impossible if people don’t start taking better care of their environment.
During a recent field trip to Selkirk Shores State Park, students collectively removed more than 100 pounds of trash, consisting of mostly plastic.
The students have studied aquatic ecology and the impact that plastic has on Lake Ontario’s environment.
The Selkirk trip was their second clean-up effort, with the first having been at Mexico Point State Park earlier this fall.
Alicia Archer, seventh grade science teacher said one of her new goals this year is to promote lake stewardship in her students with each ecology lesson she teaches.
She said it is her hope that students recognize the great, local resource and that it not be taken for granted.
Several students said they appreciated the clean-up effort and it taught them a lot about people who aren’t doing a great job of recycling.
Student Rebecca Vaughn said she was surprised at the amount of plastic and metal that had been left there or washed ashore.
The class will conclude its academic unit with a field trip to Black Creek behind Mexico High School, where students will analyze water quality using chemistry and a biotic index to catch and identify insects to determine the health of the creek.
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