Project WetKids Academy Teaches Students about Local Wetlands

A recent boat ride in the Pascagoula River System, one of the largest free-flowing rivers in the continental United States, gave 29 Pascagoula School District students and their teachers an up close look into the local wetlands and their ecosystem.

This opportunity was made possible through Project WetKids Academy, a program created through a partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi, ChevronTexaco, Audubon Mississippi, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Mississippi Naturalists and Stennis Space Center.

The program is funded through an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Academies for Young Scientists. Dr. Julie Cwikla, an associate professor of mathematics education at Southern Miss Gulf Coast, is leading the partnership.
The NSF awarded 16 of the grants nationwide, and Southern Miss was the only grant recipient in the southeast.

Recently, Project WetKids Academy gave students and teachers a weeklong experience learning the science of observing, measuring and monitoring the coast's flora and fauna. Throughout the week, students and teachers visited the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point, Beach Park in Pascagoula, Ward Bayou in Jackson County and the Sandhill Crane Refuge in Gautier.

Maria Walden, an eighth-grade teacher at Colmer Middle School, said she hopes the students become much more aware of what is right in their own backyard.

"I hope that the students feel responsible for protecting their environment and that they realize all of what they have here," said Walden. "There are some students who have never been to our beach and it's right here."

When students spent the day at the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, their morning started with a fun and educational boat ride winding through marshes and bayous. Benny McCoy of McCoy's River and Marsh tours has partnered with the Audubon Center to provide boat rides through the river system for programs such as Project WetKids.

Along with observing osprey, alligators and swallowtail kites, which migrate from South America to the U.S. to nest during the summer, the students learned how to check the salinity of water. Using a refractometer, the students were able to see the vast difference of salinity between the river's surface and floor.

Project WetKids not only provides educational activities during the weeklong summer program, but also involves the middle school students in after-school programs throughout the school year. With limited space in the free program, students are selected based on an application and essay.

"I thought Project WetKids would be fun to do after school," said Christina Stachowski, a sixth-grade student at Colmer Middle School. "I told my friends about it and it seemed really interesting. I had a lot of fun this week, especially going into the water at Beach Park trying to catch jellyfish and fish."

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While on a boat ride in the Pascagoula Rivers System, students look through a refractometer to check the salinity of the river. The middle school students are in the program Project WetKids, which gives students and teachers in the Pascagoula School district the opportunity to explore the diverse ecosystems that surround their schools and the Gulf Coast. (Southern Miss Public Relations photos by Charmaine Williams)

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Science teacher Sarah Lawrence, far right, shows middle school students from the Pascagoula School District the variety of habitats within the root system of a fallen tree. Lawrence, who teaches eighth-grade students at Trent Lott Middle School, is part of Project WetKids, a program created for students and teachers in the Pascagoula School district to explore the diverse ecosystems that surround their schools and the Gulf Coast.