As the summer is passing us by, I find myself (as I normally am) thinking about next years school year. I am 80% prepared with only a few minor things left to complete. I will be teaching Applied Biology, General Biology, and Zoology this year (my dream job!!!)...and unfortunately I gave up the Aquatic Biology course.
It isn't that I didn't want to teach it anymore, in-fact far from it, it's that I had to chose either Aquatics or Zoology and my heart is more bigger towards the Zoology course....so I gave Aquatics up for now. In making this decision I had to say goodbye to a program that I hold near and dear to my heart....RiverWatch.
RiverWatch is a program sponsored by the Colorado Division of Wildlife that monitors water quality around the state by having Voluteers (school groups, individuals, small groups, or companies) do the sampling and some of the tests and then they analyze and use the data in the means that they need to.
When I took Aquatic Biology in high school at DCHS I fell in love with our monthly river trips (I was incharge of the pH testing), then in college at Mesa State, I took Aquatic BIology again and we went out to rivers too. Not to sample, but to see fish ladders, damns (small and big), and so on. So, when I set out to get a teaching job I wanted to teach 3 things: Biology (which is my degree), Zoology, and Aquatic Biology so that I could inspire my students just as my teachers had inspired me.
So, for the last 3 years I have taken students out to the rivers to do our tests and explorations and have LOVED it. Some students had never been to a river, littlelone seen the aquatic organisms that live in it. I touched so many students lives with this program and it, in turn, touched my life.
But with a heavy heart I decided that RiverWatch just does not fit into my Zoology curriculum and although I could make it fit, it is not appropriate. So, I am saying goodbye ol' friend...thank you for the great memories, the exciting times, and the amazing insight!!
Until next time...
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