Envirothon Students Attend Science on Seneca Program

Members of our Envirothon team and other various high school students recently attended Science on Seneca (SOS), an EPA-award-winning environmental education program that is hosted by the Geoscience Department and Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart & William Smith Colleges (HWS) in Geneva, NY. Our students were provided with an interesting experience in the collection, analysis, and sharing of scientific data. This program serves as hands-on experience in conducting field-based data collection using state-of-the-art equipment that they may use if they are to enter into the field after high school.

 

According to Envirothon coach, John Lawler, Weedsport students have attended this trip several times over the last 35 years. Lawler and students boarded the HWS research vessel, called the R/V William Scandling, and headed out onto Seneca Lake. As part of the SOS trip, students participated in three stations:

 

Station One: Water Chemistry

• Obtaining a water sample and determining the pH, chloride, dissolved oxygen, and temperate.

Station Two: Secchi Disk Reading

• Measuring water clarity and transparency. They identify phytoplankton and zooplankton, examining them through a microscope.

Station Three: Benthos Sample

• Examining the sediments collected from Seneca Lake.

 

After conducting research on the water, students were also able to spend time visiting the HWS Geoscience Department. They participated in lab work such as analyzing sediments and studying local environmental history.

 

Opportunities like attending Hobart & William Smith’s SOS program are part of the many hands-on experiences that students receive as a member of our Envirothon team. The data that our students helped gather is added to a long-term database that has decades of environmental research.