Student Wave Blog

What It’s Like to Volunteer at CBF’s Maryland Oyster Restoration Center

I’m Anjali Berdia Class of 2017 at Holton-Arms School, and this past summer I volunteered at CBF’s Oyster Restoration Center in Maryland. To help restore a diminished oyster population, CBF runs two Oyster Restoration Centers, one in Maryland and one in Virginia. These centers foster the oyster’s natural reproducing methods and then release new young oysters into the Chesapeake. Oysters help filter the Bay and their reefs create habitats for organisms, so their waning population a major problem.

CBF's Maryland Oyster Restoration Center

I loved my experience at the center because the work is fun and the team is made up of interesting and amiable people. When I went, there were about five people working, everyone focused on a different part of the process. Dan, the team leader, was welcoming and he immediately paired me up with an intern to get started. First I got the gear, which included super-durable boots and a construction hat. I helped out by cleaning out some tanks, prepping them for the shells and then filling them up (the most difficult part of the day was trying to gracefully get in and out of the oyster tanks!). Once I was done with the work, the intern showed me around and explained the entire process to me. If you volunteer there, you can expect to generally help with the process: clean oyster shells, sort oyster shells, get oyster bins prepped, help distribute new oysters into the bay, and basically do anything and everything to make the process easier.

In the future I would like to bring my environmental club and a few people from my school, to show them firsthand the importance of oysters in the Chesapeake. The center is important because it brings a different idea to the restoration of the Chesapeake, the notion of saving the Bay through native organisms. Its innovative standpoint on the issue was the reason I decided to work there in the first place.

The Oyster Restoration Center in Maryland has a team of hardworking and passionate people. My day there was both physically and mentally rewarding; I ended up learning a lot about the Bay, and left with a feeling that I did something important. I would definitely recommend volunteering here to anyone looking to help out the Bay!

For more information about CBF's Oyster Restoration Centers and volunteering, visit www.cbf.org/oysters

-Anjali Berdia, Holton-Arms School

Photo by CBF Oyster Restoration Center

Spreading Storm Drain Awareness in the Town of Poolesville

Our storm drain sticker

My name is Jeeva Thaivalappil. I am a sophomore at Poolesville High School in its Global Ecology Program. I am involved in the “Bay Coalition” club at Poolesville (Class of 2017).

Last fall, we organized a meetup after school to place storm drain awareness stickers on storm drains in the town of Poolesville. The Global Ecology class of 2016 led by Ben Weishaar and Jennifer Dunn came up with the project. It started as an idea for a class presentation. But then Ben and Jennifer wanted to bring it to life, so they took the concept to us in the Bay Coalition.

Working with ACP International, we decided to order 45 storm drain stickers to place around the town of Poolesville. To pay for the project, Ben and Jennifer created a presentation for the Poolesville Town Commissioners in October. The Commissioners were blown away by the presentation and granted our request!

Storm drain awareness is very important. Labeling them helps raise awareness about littering, which can help prevent trash from ending up in streams, rivers, and even the Bay. I want to help educate people about this issue and prevent it. This project was a great opportunity for me to do so.

One of our members placing the sticker on a storm drain

Last summer I also attended a CBF Student Leadership course at Fox Island and at the Karen Noonan Center, which were both eye-opening experiences about the condition of the Bay and how our little impacts can make a big difference. The courses inspired me to go make a positive impact on our environment.

I really enjoyed doing this project because it was a great opportunity to help spread awareness in my community. More people can learn from what we did and educate others. In the future I’d like to come up with my own service project to help spread awareness about our environment.

For more information about designing your own stickers for a storm drain awareness project visit: http://www.acpinternational.com/

-Jeeva Thaivalappil, Poolesville High School

Photos provided by Jeeva

Our Base Camp to the Environmental Legislative Summit

Last week on February 2, about fifty of us students from all across Maryland got together in Annapolis at the CBF Headquarters to learn how to advocate for the Chesapeake Bay. It was in preparation for the Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit, held the next day in the Miller Senate Building in Downtown Annapolis.

Ben Weishaar, Co-President of the Poolesville Bay Coalition, presents on the State of the Bay at the Base Camp

Students from 22 different schools, representing 11 counties and Baltimore City, prepared and gave their own presentations on issues like:

• Basics of the Bay’s geography
• The Blueprint for Clean Water
• The “State of the Bay“
• Agriculture and nutrients
• Hydraulic fracturing
• Polluted runoff
• Maryland's legislative process

We premiered videos we had made. One was about the Clean Water Blueprint, featuring the green club at Sherwood High School. Another video, by the green club at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts, showed how to take action for the Bay at school. A third one about polluted runoff was made by former CBF student intern Christian Hodges. (Stay tuned, the videos will be released more widely soon!)

U.S. Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Maryland, District 3) also visited, and spoke about the power that students have to make a difference in environmental legislation. He was super supportive of what we were doing, and thanked us all for being so committed to saving the Bay.

“There is no issue in which young people can have more of a leadership role than the issue of the environment.” -Congressman Sarbanes

We also heard remarks from CBF President William C. Baker, and from Alison Prost, CBF's Maryland Executive Director. It was wonderful to be able to hear from the people who have spent their lives advocating for the environment and the health of the Chesapeake!

“As students, you hold an unbelievable set of powers. So use them. Be knowledgeable. Be persistent. Be powerful.” – CBF President Will Baker

At the end of the event, CBF gave out student awards. Scott Howarth received the James Hemphill Student of the Year Award, and the Poolesville Bay Coalition received the Mummichog Student Organization of the Year Award. Congrats to all these awesome people, and thank you so much for all your hard work!

Scott Howarth (left), Poolesville Bay Coalition representatives (right)

The Base Camp was a great time where lots of CBF student groups got to meet together and discuss all the different projects we have done. CBF did a wonderful job organizing this event, getting us all together, and making sure we had the information we needed to attend the Legislative Summit. It was really great to get to hear from so many student leaders from around the state who care so much about saving the Bay!

To see more from the event, follow @cbfstudentwave on Instagram and Twitter, and check out the hashtag #CBFBaseCamp.

And scroll down to see more photos from the day!

--Amelia Avis, Senior, Annapolis High School

All photos by Nikki Davis

Only Rain Down the Drain

Nathalie Eegholm (on the right) with other volunteers and a painted storm drain.

Nathalie Eegholm, a senior at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland, used her Independent Research class as an opportunity to help her community. She is a member of the school’s National Honor Society and Ecology club, and her community’s Watershed Committee.

In May and June of 2014, I helped the River Hill Watershed Committee (Howard County) lead an initiative to re-stencil the storm drains along Great Star Drive in Clarksville, Maryland. The volunteers included students at River Hill High School, parents, and members of the Watershed Committee.

Painting the storm drain.

As a high school junior, I took the Independent Research class offered at my school. I studied harmful algal blooms (HABs), including their causes, effects on the Chesapeake Bay, and mitigation techniques. These methods include implementing more prudent fertilization practices, increasing populations of oysters and submerged aquatic vegetation in the Bay, and reducing the amount of waste that makes its way into the watershed. An essential component of the research class is a final project. But, instead of creating the usual powerpoint or brochure, I decided that I wanted to make a lasting impact on my community. I contacted the River Hill Watershed Committee, presented my work and ideas, and became the designated leader of the project to re-stencil the storm drains.

Far too often, people throw pet waste, lawn clippings, trash, and other harmful materials into storm drains. They probably do not realize that these substances go straight to the Bay where they can lead to the growth of HABs, damage the ecosystems, and harm the wildlife! The goal of our stenciling project was to prevent pollution of the Bay and to raise awareness about how human actions, even unintentional, can have consequences for the Bay.

The first step I had to take was obtaining permission at the county level to do the project. Then, I created a list of materials and a budget, and once that was approved, went shopping for materials. In order to get volunteers to help out, I asked friends, peers from my research class, members of the National Honor Society and Ecology Club, and even the local Boy Scouts. Though we were a small group, we worked diligently, so in only a few sessions of work, we were able to stencil over 50 storm drains with the words “Only Rain Down the Drain” and “Drains to Patuxent River.” We had a lot of fun during the process, and celebrated our success with snow cones!

Finished!

In early October 2014, I went on a field trip to the Philip Merrill Environmental Center with my AP Environmental Science class. In the past I have also participated in summer camps in which I have sailed on the Chesapeake Bay, collected and analyzed water samples, and learned about the estuary. Marine biology and environmental science have always been passions of mine!

After the stenciling project, I became a member of the Watershed Committee. As a member, I have plenty of opportunities to help our community and get others involved, too. Recently, we planned and recruited volunteers for a Weed Warrior event. Students and adults weeded out invasive species around the local gym’s storm water retention pond and planted native species, such as pickerelweed, Blue Flag iris, and mistflower.

To continue our efforts in stenciling storm drains, we hope to stencil the drains at the local elementary, middle, and high schools in the near future.

---Nathalie Eegholm, Senior, River Hill High School 

Check out the River Hill Watershed Committee's facebook page for more about their work.

Photos provided by Nathalie.

How The #NoRoofNoWalls Photo Contest Went

A sampling of the #NoRoofNoWalls winners.

Wow! What a turnout! This was the best Student Wave contest yet.

ICYMI, we at CBF ran a high school student photo contest from September to December. It asked you to inspire others to connect with the Bay by taking photos anywhere outdoors in the watershed, then tagging them #NoRoofNoWalls. The 50 best photos won CBF t-shirts. It was designed last summer with a committee of student leaders who live all across the region. (See more on how the contest worked.)

And it was a great success! We counted over 300 photos entered. Unfortunately we can't repost them here, but you can search #NoRoofNoWalls on Insta or Twitter to see many of them. As a recap, the photos were of...

YOU ALL, IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS:

• Having fun! - Canoeing, boating, hiking, running, relaxing, observing, even flying a prop plane.
• Taking action! - Cleanups and tree plantings and oyster gardening.
• Looking amazing! - Selfies, group pictures, even doing yoga.

THE WATERSHED:

• Scenery! - The Bay, rivers, streams, farms, parks, shorelines, mountains, neighborhoods.
• Sunsets! - Wow the sunsets. They get their own category because WOW.
• Flora! - Plants and leaves and trees of all kinds.
• Fauna! - Crabs and snakes and turtles and birds, oh my!

We were sad that we could only choose 50 winners, there were so many great photos. Winners were students from all across Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Shout-out to the schools that the winners attend:

Academy of the Holy Cross
Archbishop Curley High School
Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School
East Rockingham High School
Eastern View High School
Glenelg High School
James River High School
Roanoke Valley Governor's School
Liberty High School
North County High School
Poolesville High School
River Hill High School
Science and Math Academy at Aberdeen High School
Seneca Valley High School
Severna Park High School
Sherwood High School
Spotsylvania High School
St. Mary's High School
Stafford High School
Trinity High School
Tuscarora High School
West Springfield High School
Westminster Senior High School
**Some schools had multiple winners. (Also read the P.S. below)

A huge thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for more opportunities. Also if you're working on an action project, or want to start one, be sure to get in touch with us!

And keep inspiring people to get outside. The only way we will Save the Bay is if we know it and love it.

--Lucas Johnson, CBF Student Leadership Project Coordinator

 

P.S. We are still waiting to hear from a few winners to claim their t-shirt prizes. Check the photos you tagged - if there is a comment saying you won from @cbfstudentwave, send an email to studentwave@cbf.org

Photo collage is a sampling from the 50 winners. Photo credits clockwise starting top left: Christine Zhang, Monica Banghart, Anna Anders, Charlie Bowles, Jeeva Thaivalappil, Breanne Smith

Just the Pearl Next Door

My oyster cages and I at the end of the oyster gardening season.

By Jessica Jenkins, Marriotts Ridge High School Class of 2015.

I have the coolest pet at my entire school. It's not a bird or a guinea pig or even a lizard. It's 400 baby oysters called spat. And before I start throwing watermen's terms all over the place, I might as well start with how I got into this in the first place.

My grandparents live in Shady Side, MD, on the Chesapeake Bay and as any kid who’s grown up around water can tell you, it is a part of who I am. It wasn't only my childhood playground--that tiny cottage seemed like a fairy land to a little girl. In the spring, horseshoe crabs would lay eggs on the beach and there were always shells to collect, waves to splash in, and plenty of adventures to be had. Yet as I’ve grown older, I’ve watched the beach erode away and the water get less and less clear. I’ve always helped to clean up in little ways when I could, but suddenly that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make a bigger impact. I wanted to be the force that started the wave (the STUDENT wave...pardon my pun :D) and not just one of the people who helped to push it along.

The oysters in one of my oyster cages.

My junior year, I decided to take a stand. Earning my Girl Scout Gold Award seemed the perfect way to do it. But how can one teenage girl save a whole Bay? Through my research, I discovered oyster gardening and in turn, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Oysters are filter feeders, meaning they eat by filtering microscopic plankton out of Bay water. When they do so, they also filter out pollutants and make the Bay cleaner. The Chesapeake's oysters used to be able to filter the entire Bay in a day. But now due to overfishing, disease, and the decline of their ecosystem it takes over a year.

In order to increase the oyster population, many organizations (like CBF!) have started citizen-driven oyster gardening programs, where people raise spat until they can be released into the wild. While raising my own oysters, I produced a set of videos to help get young people involved and teach them how to oyster garden. These videos will be used by CBF to recruit new student oyster gardeners and assist in teaching them to garden oysters successfully. In turn, more oysters will filter the Bay and increase the health of our Chesapeake ecosystem.

A couple of my grown spat on shell at the end of the season.

In order for this to work, we need more students involved. What better way to do so than to have our social-media-crazy generation take it under our collective texting thumbs? As a student, I can honestly say that my experience was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done because there is no one there but you. You are in charge of your oysters, you watch over them, you take care of them, and in turn, no one is as delighted as you when you see them grow and mature. Ask any one of my friends and they will tell you about how I can not shut up about my oysters. They’ll tell you that I‘d talk to anyone who would listen and just go on and on. I really feel like I’m a part of the Bay and its restoration.

My grandparents' dock where I raised the oysters.

Most DelMarVa kids know that the Bay runs deep for us. It’s not just water, it’s a feeling, it’s a way of life, it’s home. What better way to give back to that home than raising its silent protectors? And what better way to understand it than to have your own ecosystem hanging off your dock?

Plus: most oyster parents will tell you, they’re pretty cute :)

For more, visit my blog: http://thepearlnextdoor.wordpress.com/

To learn how to oyster garden with CBF as a student, click here.

 

One of my videos:

 

Creating Art to Save the Bay

Kate Thomas, a senior at Archbishop Spalding High School, has been selling paintings and drawings to raise money for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. CBF would like to say "thank you!" to Kate! Here is her story:

My view on the Severn River

My name is Kate Thomas and I own Kate T Prints.

Growing up on the Severn River fueled my love for the environment and it became a part of who I am. My life has been spent in its waters and shores; boating, jet-skiing, tubing, kayaking, swimming and daily practices rowing for my crew team. Unfortunately, the Chesapeake Bay is suffering from pollution and other problems.

One of my favorite books growing up was The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. My mother made sure my siblings and I understood the importance of our environment and mother earth. Her motto was, “We take care of Mother Earth and she will take care of us.” I knew I wanted to contribute to helping save the Bay but I wasn’t sure how. I knew I could volunteer my time but due to my very hectic academic schedule and daily rowing schedule, I’m not left with much time. My parents have always instilled in us to work hard and to use our talents and passions to improve ourselves and help others.

As a young child, I loved painting and drawing. I loved animals, both prehistoric and current. I loved learning about nature and our environment. I developed an early passion for art. One hot summer day in June, I painted three Maryland Blue Crabs for my mother’s birthday. Consequently, she had many requests to purchase them. An idea was born. I decided to combine my love for the Chesapeake Bay and nature with my passion for art. I realized I could sell my drawings and paintings and donate the proceeds to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the main caretaker and preserver of our beloved Bay.

If we work together, we can save our beautiful Bay for future generations to enjoy.

A few of my crab prints

Check out my site: www.kateTprints.com to see more of my artwork!

Cheers!
-Kate T

The Amazing Green Club at Augusta Fells Savage Institute in Baltimore

Trevon Manning, a student at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in Baltimore, is part of the school's Green Club. Last school year, he shared this piece about all the projects they were working on.

A painted storm drain. Check out this photo and more at the club's Instagram: http://instagram.com/afsivagreenclub

“The Green Club” is an after-school program at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts. It is a group of high school students and a teacher committed to help out with improving the environment, little by little and in various ways. What we do is we gather after school every day from 3:35 to 6:00 P.M., however mostly on Wednesdays to collect recycled paper throughout the classrooms. Our mission is to help the environment and to get people to live an environmental-friendly lifestyle, to be aware of the local and global environmental issues, and most importantly to protect the environment. We are composed of about 15 members and all of us share the same vision; we want to help out save the environment.  We are starting small by focusing in our own school campus but are planning to expand our environmental awareness programs to the neighboring community.

Paper recycling is a big deal for us; we are trying to recover all the used paper in the building for recycling purposes. We know that paper comes from trees; statistics show that on estimate, 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets (conservatree.org). Paper mills also use a considerable amount of energy and at the same time contributes to the pollution problem. Also, recycling a ton of paper would leave you with 7000 gallons of water, 17 trees, and 380 gallons of oil. This is the main reason why we are passionate about recycling paper. At the beginning of the school year we designed and distributed recycling boxes to every classroom in the building. On Wednesdays we empty these boxes and we get them ready for the city to pick up. Some of these collected paper were recycled right here in the school. Through a simple mechanical process, we transform this paper into postcards, and cut out letters for our poster boards.  Recycling paper is important because not only does it give something to do, it also benefits you and the earth.

Another project that we are doing is storm drain stenciling. Last autumn we painted four storm drains around the school campus. Our goal for this project is to encourage the community to become aware of the environment. Some of the artwork includes a blue heron, crab, fish, and text like “NO TRASH PLEASE” and “HEALTHY HARBOR STARTS HERE”. We know that storm drains are similar to water funnels that collect rain water and flushes straight to the bay. The problem is that people litter and it impacts our Chesapeake Bay. What happened is that the litter goes to the storm drains and ends up in the Bay where our food comes from. We stencil the storm drains to get people aware of what/where the things that go in, end up. Personally, I enjoy painting storm drains because it’s fun and it benefits me as well as others.

We also conducted research which studies the growing season of trees in our schoolyard. Our long term question was: “How might the length of the growing season relate to the climate?” and the short term question was: “When does the growing season for trees in our schoolyard end this autumn?” Our research was in autumn where we measured and flagged the leaves. As the season grows we recorded the data like the color of the leaves, length/width of the leaves, and the number of leaves that had fallen at a certain time. We plan to return in spring and continue our research. Our reason for doing this is to keep track of the health and changes in the trees around the schoolyard. Doing this project helped me value the consideration of our trees everywhere.

We as an environmental group are also having fun by experiencing nature and participating to different field trip opportunities. The trips that we attended include not only the green club but other students as well.  The first trip to the Arthur Sherwood Environmental Center required us to measure the quality of Chesapeake Bay water. The trip also included canoeing and taking a trip on a boat. While on the canoe we observed birds and studied the value of the wetlands. We also conducted seining where we captured shrimp and other little fish.  Some of our members also went to Cornell University and attended a two-day workshop on Conservation, Career, and Arts.

Being a member of the club broadens my understanding of the environment. It also gives me opportunities to take necessary actions in helping save the environment. I think that it impacts my academic performance because I learn different things about trees that include: when the trees in our schoolyard change color, stop growing, and tree’s identification.

Check out the Green Club's Instagram for photos of these projects and more!

Have a project you'd like to share on this blog? Email studentwave@cbf.org

The "Share Action Projects" page on the CBF Student Wave site is being phased out. Those stories, including this one, are being reposted on the Student Wave blog.

Raising Awareness About Air Quality

Kayla Hill, a freshman at the Baltimore Lab School, shared this cool project she did a few months ago that raises awareness about air quality each day:

Every morning when I come to school I check the air quality by going on www.airnow.gov. This site informs me about the air pollution in our zip code each day. I then raise a colored flag on our school's flag pole. For example, one day the flag was yellow meaning that the air quality was moderate.

I love the job because I am informing my community about the health of our environment!

The different flags used, depending on the air quality that day.

Read more about air pollution and the Bay, or learn about the Chesapeake Bay "airshed."

How Trees Can Stop Polluted Runoff

Trees. They give us oxygen and clean the air. They provide habitats and resources. And, among other uses, they give their shade and beauty to the earth. But did you know that they also serve as barriers to water pollution, effectively saving our precious and irreplaceable water sources?

As precipitation occurs, substances such as fertilizers, dirt, chemicals, fecal matter, and nutrients accrue and are carried along hard surfaces into storm drains and small streams, and are eventually dumped into the Chesapeake Bay. These substances effectively decrease the bay’s water quality.

However, trees and forests act as buffers by stopping storm-water runoff from infiltrating the watershed. They can also reduce the amount of water in the atmosphere through transpiration, while their roots and leaf litter promotes the incorporation of rainwater into soil rather than into bodies of water. Finally, trees halt erosion, which can decrease the amount of sedimentation in the bay.

Knowledge is powerful, and since you now know how beneficial trees can be, you have the power to make a difference while becoming a defender of the Chesapeake Bay. This can be as simple as making the effort to plant a tree!

Post by summer CBF Student Correspondent Savannah Steinly, Catoctin High School graduate who attended a CBF field experience at Smith Island. She is now at UMBC.

Image a composite by Savannah: pictures of people planting trees (from left to right) from here, here, here, and here. Pictures of individual trees by Savannah in Thurmont, MD. Info referenced from forestsforwatersheds.org and CBF