On May 1 and 3, two halves of the Greater Latrobe 7th grade class took their fourth annual field trip to Linn Run State Park to release brook trout they spent the year raising from eggs, as well as spend the day doing activities related to stream ecology, part of a program called Trout in the Classroom, sponsored by Trout Unlimited.

Park Manager Douglas Finger said Linn Run has participated in the program for five years with the Ligonier and Latrobe school districts, though the schools’ involvement with the park predates his 16-year tenure.

"It's a chance for the kids to get out and enjoy the outdoors,” said Trout Unlimited Forbes Trail Chapter director Bob Shusko. “It's amazing how many kids today have not been to a state park and gotten out of the car. We are trying to get more kids away from their computers and phones and get them aware of what this is all about. Linn Run is a brook trout stream, so it goes hand in hand; it complements and helps the state."

According to Forbes Trail Chapter President Monty Murty, Trout in the Classroom started as an education program under Vice President Al Gore. It was later adopted by New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and made into a curriculum to meet No Child Left Behind science standards.

Murty explained that brook trout spawn in November, which gives the schools the opportunity to raise the eggs in aquariums, used as artificial streams, and release them as fingerlings in the spring.

Life science teacher Pat Roberts said during the year the students care for their stream, checking the water for ph, nitrates, nitrites, dissolved oxygen, and other environmental factors to keep the trout alive. Roberts also said students become very involved in the process, setting up webcams through the school website to keep an eye on the fish after school hours, adding that his half of the class had over 200 of their 300 brook trout survive, a marked improvement from the 2% survival rate of eggs in the wild.

Students lined up with a cup to receive a trout, which they then named and released into the stream. They then formed their individual science classes and moved to various stations, each with a different activity. These stations included assessing the water quality and habitat of the stream, a short nature hike through park trails, fly-fishing demonstrations by Trout Unlimited members, and kick netting, where a seine net is placed downstream as students rustle through the stream bed, kicking up any animal life and catching it as it drifts into the net.

During their lunch break, the students witnessed an electro-fishing demonstration performed by Eric Chapman of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Electro fishing uses a charge pack that emits and electrical pulse that stuns the fish temporarily. The unconscious fish float to the surface, where they are netted to see fish population and distribution.

"These students spend all year learning about this stuff in a simulated capacity,” Roberts noted. “Today they get the opportunity to see and apply what they have studied. This program is a way of incorporating what they would normally be learning in a 7th grade life science class with very real, hands-on experience."