For the Marine Biology Research and Harbor SEALs Programs, the 2024-2025 school year started off with a visit to one of the world’s wonders – the Taj Mahal!
Our wonderful 10th grade scholars were invited by Bronx Community College’s Neal Phillips and Paramita Sen to present in the WeATher and Climate Hackathon (i.e., WATCH) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, during September 20-21, 2024 being organized by the US Consulate Hyderabad, US Consulate Mumbai, and the City University of New York in collaboration with KIIT Deemed University. Our students presented on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Weather/Climate Applications. They used data from the weather station that was donated to the school along with the data they collected as 10th graders while monitoring the Hudson-Raritan Estuary.
Seeing the beautiful architecture and meeting the wonderful people of India was life changing. Our students were amazed at the level of dedication, hospitality, hard work, and, especially friendship that they discovered in their trip.
Our Harbor SEALs Civic Science team leaders, Sebastian and Sarah were out recruiting new members in early October.
During Climate Week, our MBRP scholars got to listen to climate leaders present on the future of climate innovation and responsible adaptation strategies to our climate challenges.
Our MBRP10 scholars, Charlie, Amy, Randy, and Jeff practice using the Betabottle that will be used for obtaining water samples in the Harbor.
During Climate Week, Fordham University hosted a workforce development fair on Climate Jobs. In particular, Americorps now turned Climatecorps presented their new Biden climate initiatives.
For another Climate Week event, our MBRP scholars, Jordyn and Izzy, presented their research on PCBs and the use of AI in climate science.
At the Explorers club, MAPA and MBRP scholars were invited to a conference on Microplastics and pollution mitigation by Professor Christopher Reddy from WHOI.
MBRP alumni, Tyler and George, visit to discuss their struggles and wisdom gained in the post secondary universe.
Monk Mohan Vilas Das from India and Professor Neal Philip from Bronx Community College visit our MBRP scholars to discuss the crucial growth of consciousness to employ yourself in something you care about deeply in order to achieve balance with the world.
A big thank you goes out to our sponsors and partners ConEdison, Econcrete Co., Governors Island Trust, New York University, Stony Brook University, NYSMEA, Duro, Earth Matter and many others. Special thanks goes out to our wonderful Project Leader, Nan Richardson, our Communications Staff Rosalie Teverow, our research lab associate Nick Ring, our lab technicians Scott Sugg, Izzy Mortise, Julises Betancourt, Elyes Vives, and all those that help make our work have a farther impact on our kids.
The Harbor SEALs embarked on an excursion of a lifetime – to Cuba! 17 young science scholars tested their tenacity in the waters of Cuba for contaminants and physical-chemical parameters. With marine biology gear and bug spray in tow they hiked to remote and well trodden areas all the same to determine if the waters of Cuba were as contaminated as the New York Harbor.
A major shout out goes to our principal donors Jim Tripp & Jeffrey Gural. We also thank our various other generous donors: Lisa Breslof, Elizabeth Butler, Kristy Chau, Joanna Dje, Michelle Eliseo, Raquel Fernandez, Charles Fitzpatrick, Tracy Hogan, Erlyn Ikeda, Sarah Koo, Bill Ma, Drako Macal, Patricia Madsen, Jane McNamara, Peter Morawski, Kathleen Nolan, Alexis Raskin, Julia Ryan, Julio Rodriguez, Lou Siegel, Edward Smith, Hiram / Owen Szeto, Veronica Torres, Tara Tranchina, Karen Valentin, Jessica Woodall, and Yingdi Xiang, & Nami Yamamoto. We had various anonymous donors and we thank them too!
We would also like to thank our school Project Manager: Nan Richardson, travel managers: Wanderers Club, and our former principal: Jeff Chetirko for making trip possible.
Jan 20, 2024 at 8:15 PM: We’ve made it safe and sound. No issues on the way. We arrived in Havana and we saw scenery that was eye-opening for all of us. When we got to the house, we got situated and had our first proper meal of the day.
Then we played some card games, socialized, and then went on a walk. The walk was peaceful and we took some time to take in the beauty of Havana and the fact that we’re on an international trip with our peers and mentors.
Happy Birthday Scott!
We then set off to our first sampling location, the Habana Bay, to collect data, which went smoothly.
We then headed to a Cuban nature conservatory where we took a guided hike, stopping to collect/test data and eat lunch.
Our days’ work were mapped out the night before on a hand-written schedule. We encouraged thoughtful memes to establish the theme of the day. “Don’t eat the crust!”
Drones? What drones? The phys-chem team is trying to figure out how (not) to use drones in Cuba.
NYC kids planning their next adventure: soccer game with locals, then Cuban dance!
Data analysis the old-school way! Right Adam!
…and the classic car ride of a life time!
Our final dinner out with our University of Havana science partners.
Help our budding MBRP scientists make a yearly field trip to Cuba in 2024, where they will be working on a serious field expedition with scientists of the Center for Marine Investigations of the University of Havana and experiencing a true cultural immersion in the Caribbean.
You can fund the trip via direct donation, and / or buy a BIO T-shirt $25 to help— and/ or choose to make a general donation to fund other needed items listed: Purchase or Donate Here
( If not fully funded, teachers may elect to direct funds toward items that are most needed. )
All donations directly benefit the Marine Biology program.
Mauricio Gonzalez and all the students thank you very much!
Ayude a nuestros científicos en ciernes a realizar un viaje de campo anual a Cuba en 2024, donde trabajarán en una expedición de campo seria con científicos del Centro de Investigaciones Marinas de la Universidad de La Habana, y experimentarán una verdadera inmersión cultural en el Caribe.
Usted puede financiar el viaje a través de donación directa, y / o comprar una camiseta BIO $ 25 para ayudar – y / o optar por hacer una donación general para financiar otros artículos necesarios enumerados: Compre o done aqui
( Si no está totalmente financiado, los profesores pueden optar por dirigir los fondos hacia los elementos que son más necesarios. )
Todas las donaciones benefician directamente al programa de Biología Marina.
¡Mauricio González y todos los estudiantes muchas gracias!
Greetings MBRP PAC, colleagues, family, and friends,
Happy start of the summer! What a year! In my 20+ years of teaching I have not felt as much joy and satisfaction teaching as I did this year. Sure, the year had its challenges but on the whole it was a good year with many successes and a wonderful group of scholars! This year they were my heroines and heroes!
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General: This last school year was a transition year back to in-person learning and adjusting to the fall-out of COVID. Our scholars needed a little extra support dealing with academics and adjusting to a new social/global context. (So did we, the adults, if I’m being honest.) The latter had on the balance a positive outcome, whereas the former was more of a challenge. Although students were eager to return and learn, I noticed that some of our seniors struggled with the more intense parts of the research process. Extra time was needed for most assignments that involved producing reports and analyzing data. Despite these obstacles, most of our scholars were able to complete their final projects and the ones who didn’t still put up a good fight to get to the finish line!
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Engaging Students in Learning: We were able to accomplish this by scaffolding the research process carefully. This involved breaking up the research process into various stages that students would perform. The initial phases of research included: learning sampling techniques and writing down procedures before doing field work; compiling field data and digitizing them; looking at the data and beginning to ask questions about patterns they observed; performing a literature review and reading background information; starting to put together a presentation of their literature review; and then processing the data to graph. The next phase involved assessing the scholars’ work thus far: students were evaluated using assessment in instruction from three research rubrics borrowed from SUNY Albany’s UHS Research Program and the New York Science and Engineering Fair; they also peer reviewed numerous times in order to assess themselves and improve their performance; they could then refine their presentations and add new elements to their research based on the feedback from these numerous, varied and rigorous assessments. The final stage involved project results: after another peer reviewed session, students proceeded to add analyses and conclusions to their work, and then defend their projects before their peers and the instructor. This scaffolding process allowed for them to take intellectual risks as evidenced by the numerous and unique questions that were asked based off of our data set. In spite of using the same data set, working interdependently, and investigating a single research topic, no two students had the same project! Never in my entire teaching career have I seen students better prepared or more confident to present as they were this year. The high level of respect and rapport we had with each other, and the degree of accountability we held each other to, created the atmosphere needed to stand in front of an audience and speak impactfully for 5 -15 minutes. The peer review process also helped generate trust for each other (i.e. we always started our feedback celebrating a positive quality and then moved on to constructive criticism). Lastly, my questioning and discussion techniques help students dig deeper into their research while also creating an environment of exploration and excellence. My best classes are those in which students are challenging each other based on the same questioning and discussion techniques which they learned during class. I would have to say that despite the challenges of returning to in-person learning after a year and a half, and continued COVID disruptions, this was one of my most highly effective years as a teacher!
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Senior accomplishments: 100% of our seniors passed the written final exam; over 1000 hours of internship hours were worked for the Hudson River Foundation – a school CTE high for the year; 14 of our 20 seniors received the CTE endorsement on their diploma; and many of our seniors received college credit in natural resources management, oceanography, and research. This year’s valedictorian and salutatorian were from our program as has mostly been the case for the last several years. Below I share their presentations and publicly available data on plankton, microplastics, oyster restoration, and Randall’s Island fish monitoring:
Junior accomplishments: Our juniors had a really busy year. From managing two major plankton-microplastics excursions aboard the Indy 7 to maintaining 6 major recirculating aquaculture systems, to managing and digitizing data, getting certified in lab and chemical safety, interning for the Hudson River Foundation, and perfecting their job seeking skills with a mock interview and resume building sessions offered by our wonderful parents Koko and Nan Richardson, they didn’t skip a beat. Below I share their culminating projects:
Sophomore accomplishments: Our sophomores were able to complete much-needed Social Emotional Learning modules on EverFi, an online education company that we’ve partnered with for several years now. Next, they were able to sample plankton and microplastics using the Beta-bottle and Sedgewick-Rafter Cell technique. After that, they learned data management and processing techniques while beginning to formulate an interdependent project. In between this step and presenting their projects using the MBRP’s proven Project Management process, they were able to begin training and sampling for physical-chemical properties of the NY Harbor.
SEALs after school program: Our SEALs scholars were very high-achieving this year. They successfully completed their project to recover marine debris from the rip rap surrounding Governors Island. They also updated project stakeholders using social media; submitted project updates to our sponsor, ConEdison; uploaded their data to this website to make it publicly available; completed a final report of their findings; and submitted a new grant proposal for next year. Lastly, we created an exhibit with some of the debris we recovered which you can find outside of the school building by the lab. We’ll be working with NYU to further build out the exhibit in September. In case you’ve gotten this far in this blog post, you’d also be interested to know that the SEALs were almost 100% student led this year! I’m so proud of these scholar interns, I wish you could’ve been there to see their work. But happily they were showcased in a documentary and a newspaper article which you can view below.
Changes: As you may have noticed, we didn’t run a large marine science symposium this year. Instead, we had a smaller in class symposium where students presented their projects to each other and practiced those critical public speaking skills. The reasons for the change were 01) our students struggled with their academic and social emotional needs so taking off a layer of stress was crucial, and 02) we don’t have the necessary school supports in place to run it effectively without burnout on my part. We’re in the process of trying to get support from other science teachers or propose running a CTE-wide exposition to replace the symposium. Secondly, we didn’t offer college credit in science research this year. With too many students on the roster and a wide array of abilities & needs, something had to give. Unfortunately it was the independent research I so dearly love to do. However, as you may have gathered from the above descriptions, we’ve transitioned to interdependent projects. We’re now focusing on 3 topics by grade: physical-chemical analysis of the Harbor for 10th graders, plankton/microplastics monitoring for 11th graders; and biodiversity on settlement plates, traps, and benthic grab studies for our 12th graders. Once we collect our data, students in groups can ask questions about them and build out a project interdependently. This model has proven very successful this year!
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Next steps: We’ll be applying for State re-certification in June 2023. We’ll be calling together a PAC meeting in January 2023 to discuss curriculum and internships. We’ll also be reaching out to some of you to renew articulation agreements. Please stay tuned for that important ask!
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Growing and Developing Professionally: I have obtained an administrator’s license and plan in the future to move into a leadership role. Although exciting, I’m taking baby steps in order to balance out my health needs and this potential opportunity. The lead-up to this was a two-year post master’s degree in school and district leadership. My final project on workplace bullying was published in a peer-reviewed education journal and can be found below. It was only one of four papers published from the whole graduating class. Next, I was able to partner up with Rob Markuske to pull together a work group composed of students and staff to begin creating a vision for a future partnership between NYHS and the game-changing Center for Climate Solutions scheduled to open on Governors Island in the near future.
Thank you to our leader scholars for all their support with all aspects of the program! Aelish Mullaney, Marifer Sanchez-Gaspar, Maddie Novatt, Nick Pabotoy, Nick Dilella, Giovanni Nunez, Anna Sheehan, Jaylen Boyce, Julia Purrazzella, Sebastian Koko, Arlo Kane, Isaac Castillo, Nino Mazzola, Sara Guevara and the dozens of others in the MBRP. You’ve made this school year a wonderful one! Thank you to the parents, especially Koko and Nan Richardson, for their tireless support. Thank you to all the NYHS and MBRP parents for your donations, lab support, and words of encouragement throughout the year. Thank you to our internship partner, Jim Lodge from the Hudson River Foundation. Thank you to the office of Post-Secondary Readiness, Omari Gay, Florence Dennis, and the rest of the crew. Thank you to our many industry & post-secondary partners, and sponsor organizations who supported us this year: Marisa DeDominicis, Karen Holmberg, Rachael Miller, Joshua Crespo, Matthew Haiken, Zofia Baumann, Jackie Wu, Helene Hetrick, Mollie McGinnis, Melanie Smith, David Park, Billion Oyster Project, Con Edison, EverFi, Compliance Solutions, NOCTI, Earth Matter, Rozalia Project, Governors Island Trust, Hudson River Foundation, Randall’s Island Park Alliance, ESRI, SUNY Stony Brook, Bronx Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Manhattan College, Roger Williams University, UCONN, LES Ecology Center, NYC Department of Education – New York Harbor School, and all our PAC members. And last but not least, thank you to my wife and family for all your support.
The Harbor SEALs have been hard at work this season recovering marine debris from the rip rap surrounding Governor’s Island, NYC for the Hudson River Foundation. Student interns and volunteers from the New York Harbor School have been managing this project since September of 2021. The team is broken up into four work groups 01) Data Analysis, 02) Resource Recovery, 03) Communications, and 04) Water Quality. The team submitted a proposal to ConEdison and were awarded a grant to purchase the equipment necessary to safely scale the rip rap and recover NYC’s pervasive debris. Large garbage bags full of plastic bottles, boat line, dock Styrofoam, sports balls of all types, and mini alcohol bottles dot and span the rip rap. But by far the most interesting of findings have been a message in a bottle and a glamping tent.
After spending much of the Fall planning and writing the proposal, ordering materials, testing the safety equipment, and undergoing practicing trials, the SEALs began recovering debris in January. The Data Analysis group began defining categories of debris, creating data tables, and online forms. They then proceeded to classify the debris collected each sample day and weigh them by category. The Recovery team worked to perfect the methods for safely removing debris from underneath the rip rap and collected three geographically located quadrants to be able to determine the rate of debris replacement. Our communications team designed social media interfaces to disseminate our work products and reached out to our various stakeholders to coordinate field days. They also were in charge of writing the summary grant reports to ConEdison. Our Water Quality team began training in the measurement of Dissolved Oxygen in the sample site using the Modified Winkler Method. They also measured nutrients and other physical-chemical parameters. Finally, they began testing a drone with 3D deigned sampling devices to collect water samples from the Estuary.
View an article of them in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle here.
Million thanks to our partners and sponsors: Billion Oyster Project, Rozalia Project, Con Edison, Earth Matter, Governors Island Trust, Hudson River Foundation, LES Ecology Center, & NYC Department of Education – New York Harbor School.
above: Sophomores doing a last minute check before boarding at Pier 101
above: Sophomores sailing out to the data/specimen collection point
Marine Bio Junior Sebi Koko explains, “In the picture above you can see the sophomore students lowering beta bottles into the water, which are cylinders that sink to the depth you want in order to collect the water sample.”
Sebi continues, “In the picture above, some juniors are lowering a Neuston Net into the water. In the picture below, the net is capturing water particles just south of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Neuston Net is also called a Manta Tow, and you can see why as it resembles a Manta Ray swimming on the water’s surface.”
above: Just before the Senior’s boat trip,
Mauricio shows students how to
adjust a Flow Meter in the Marine Bio Lab.
Sebi explains more, “In the picture above,
seniors rinse down the net from the Manta Tow
to collect all material that was captured. Below,
seniors transfer material into a collection cup.
Later, back in our lab, we analyzed the samples
and found plankton, algae, detritus and
sadly, a lot of micro-plastics.”
Please help our students to be able to continue doing
exciting projects like this by donating at Cheddar Up
Every little bit helps! Thanks
Thanks to Principal Jeff
and all the parents that
attended our first Marine
Bio Parent’s Zoom Meeting
last month. It was nice to
meet and share. Our seniors
are busy with the college
application process right
now. Parents of juniors and
sophomores asked for
college info, as it is never
too soon to start planning.
We are including some links
below. Please share info
you have that our families
may be interested in.
Comments? Questions?
Contact your Marine Bio Reps
Tricia Garcia & Koko at marinebio@kokobaz.comThanks to Angie Martinez,
Nan Richardson and Tricia Garcia
for pictures and content.
You’re invited! On June 17, the New York Harbor School will be hosting its 10th Annual Marine Science Symposium through the digital cloud! Experience environmental science from our very own Marine Biology Research and Harbor SEALs scholars. Our honored keynote guests will be Dr. Kathleen Nolan, Chair of Biology at St. Francis College and Mr. Andrew Sommer, alumnus NYHS, class of 2015. Dr. Nolan and Mr. Sommer will share their personal and professional journey through the exciting world of scientific research. In addition, we will be honoring this year ’s NYC Terra ISEF Fair participant, Katherine Mumford, our post-secondary and industry partners, our MBRP symposium finalists, and our Manhattan Borough President, the Honorable Gale Brewer! Please take a moment to view our MBRP Class of 2021 websites.
The MBRP community would like to extend a warm thanks to our NYHS custodial staff, Mr. Benito Nunez, for assuming the oversight of the Marine Science lab for the complete year of the pandemic. Mr. Nunez has kept over 100 tilapia, various tropical freshwater and saltwater invertebrates, fish, reptiles, and amphibians alive and healthy! Benny – Thanks-a-million! The MBRP and the NYHS is tremendously fortunate to have you on the team!
Lastly, it’s with great grief that I inform you of the passing of marine restoration scientist and friend, Dr. Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, after an accident in her native Israel. We are most grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Perkol-Finkel over the last 10 years. Her legacy will live on as her company, Econcrete Co., continues to innovate and build biodiversity-attracting solutions into our coastal infrastructure. This symposium is dedicated to Dr. Perkol-Finkel.
If you’d like to participate as a judge during the fair, you may use this link.
Brought to you by our MBRP class of 2021 (and 2022) scholars.
On June 17, the Marine Biology Research Program hosted an historic 1st Virtual Marine Science Symposium. The program was packed with wonderful people from NYC’s marine science community. Guests and scholars learned about ecological restoration, how fish use tools, how COVID has affected school life, the economy, politics, etc. and even judged projects! We had two inspirational keynote speakers, Heather Eisenlord and alumnus Grace Carter, talk to us about their career and school journeys. Click here to view the results of our Awards Ceremony, look at some pictures of our class of 2020, and download some resources. Next, we recognized the dedication of those PAC members that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support our scholars year-after-year! They were Dr. Kathleen Nolan, Dr. Neal Phillip, Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran, and our all-star mom, Nan Richardson!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the judges that dedicated their time to review videos and slideshows throughout the week following up to the event. Our scholars received invaluable feedback. These efforts contribute to the immeasurable effects communities have on their youngest of budding scientists. I cannot express my gratitude enough.
Passionate, creative, and kind – these are the three words that first come to mind when I think about the MBRP class of 2020. I will miss the passionate care for fish and marine life that always came up when something would go wrong with our systems and you were there to solve the problem. I will miss the challenging conversations we had on gun violence, “knowing thyself,” the broken school system, systemic racism, and, yes, research… I won’t miss pushing all of you to produce the best work you could produce! I will miss the teamwork you demonstrated often when it came time to support your fellow classmates. This is one of the things that kept me motivated to keep on pushing day in and day out, through the flus and the back aches. I recall seeing you teach each other and the younglings all the things you learned “on your own.” “Don’t ask Mauricio …” I’ll miss eating my PB&J sandwiches and my wife’s soups in front of you. I’ll miss the stories of cutting in the bathroom, mess hall, basketball court, and food truck. I’ll miss how some of you helped me track them down and saved me the phone call to guidance! I’ll miss the use of long nails to screw on tiny bolts on crab traps on the edge of the dock. I’ll miss the talks about politics, philosophy, and environmental justice. I’ll miss the hugs and hellos. I’ll miss your projects, your brownies and your holiday greetings. I’ll miss trying to not take pictures so as not to offend. I’ll miss seeing you use power tools and mixing cement. I’ll miss the movie and video suggestions. I’ll miss the sneaking up from behind to scare me. So, don’t ever forget that in my imperfect way, I always pushed you to be better than who you were yesterday and to be more mindful, thoughtful, and sensitive about this mysterious world around us and in us. You’ll remember our adventures in the MBRP, I “know.” You will always be my marine scientists! Best of Luck and Skill.
A huge thank s to our superstar symposium moderators: Marifer Sanchez-Gaspar, Sunita Pearson-Siegel, Randy Maharaj, Aelish Mullaney, Mimi Katz, and Heavenly Davis!
Finally, find here the Program for the 9th Annual, 1st Virtual Marine Science Symposium and here for our book “THE EFFECTS OF COVID19 IN A HYPERCONNECTED WORLD.”
In these difficult times, we wish you peace and health.
Every graduating class has a personality of its own molded by each individual and the particulars of the school cohort. This year’s graduating class was characterized by many unique and strong personalities. What they all had in common though was honesty. I have never met so many young MBRP scholars in tune with themselves and the spirit of the times. I’m most grateful to this particular group for having embodied a crucial component of the program which is independence. This characteristic allowed them to pull through and manage the many aspects that running a high school research program requires. From maintaining our various recirculating lab systems, managing the 8th Annual Marine Science Symposium, competing in the New York City Science and Engineering & Urban Barcode Research Program fairs, completing professional maps using ArcGIS, working thousands of internship hours, earning dozens of college credits, and, most importantly, enhancing environmental awareness of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, this group of graduating scholars will be making big waves in our world for the better in the years to come. To get to know our graduating MBRP Class of 2019 better, click here to view their ePortfolios.
On May 15 the New York Harbor School hosted its 8th Annual Marine Science Symposium. We had over 50 projects on display and over 30 volunteers from various industry & post-secondary institutions. Among the volunteer judges of the student projects was a team from Con Edison, which has generously supported Marine Biology Research at Harbor School for several years. This year’s theme was the Oroboros- a symbol of chaos and order. The inquiry process, which lies at the heart of research, involves the brave act of taming the chaos inherent in the unknown to try to extract some kernel of truth only to realize that new questions have sprung up and the process continues. Research requires the delicate balancing act between finality and infinity, end and renewal.
This year’s winner of the MBRP Trident Award of Excellence was bestowed to Marcus Charles (Class ’18). The Trident Award is given to a MBRP graduate that has accomplished all three of the following feats: 01) has earned all the possible college credits offered by the MBRP, 02) has competed in the NYC Science and Engineering Fair or obtained GIS SPACE certification, and 03) has assumed a leadership position in the Harbor SEALs Citizen Science after school team. To view the Symposium Booklet with the complete list of volunteers, senior autobiographies, project titles, and Symposium results click here.
Our work is not possible without the ongoing support of industry and Post-secondary partners such as ConEdison, SUNY Stony Brook, Bronx Community College, BMCC, Urban Barcode Program, Roger Williams University, SUNY Albany, NYC Department of Education, New York Harbor Foundation, and Rozalia Project, to mention just a few. The opportunities they grant our scholars serve to enrich their education and help make them college and career ready.
An example of the benefits of the synergy between our partners and the MBRP is our yearly completion of long term research projects, many of which compete at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair with NYC’s brightest STEAM students. We had four competitors in this year’s regional fair with our MBRP research scholar, Cyd Bloomfield, placing third in the category of Earth & Environmental Science. Thank you to Dr. Elizabeth Burmester for mentoring many of this years projects. Go New York Harbor School Science!
In the field, our young Harbor SEALs scholars have been hard at work. Our Microbiology/Plankton and Phys-Chem teams have been monitoring the health of our Harbor waters. Our Biodiversity team has been preparing Econcrete tiles to deploy off of Governors Island for long-term monitoring. And our freshmen and sophomore scholars have been hard at work learning the ropes to take over leadership of their teams next school year.
Our alumni have been graduating from college and many continue to visit throughout the year. This past month I attended two graduation ceremonies. Our scholars report that college is not easy. Many struggle to adapt to the rigors of academic expectations and many are also the first to go to college in their families. I am pleased to also mention that colleges are starting to support our minority students by creating special associations that our students can go to for guidance. These associations also provide career assistance after graduation. Common themes I heard in our various conversations were 01) don’t be afraid to ask for help from your professors, 02) take advantage of office hours, 03) go the extra mile so your professors take you under their wing, 04) completing research in the MBRP opened doors for students, 05) don’t let impostor syndrome creep in, you’re not alone! Again, ask for help.
It has been an honor for me to have been awarded the NYC Big Apple Award for the 2018-19 school year. As a part of this recognition, I’ve had the privilege of participating in advisory meetings with Chancellor Carranza and his talented staff. I have also been a part of Academy for Teachers Master Classes that have enriched my intellectual growth. I’d like to end this update by dedicating it to my late mentor, Dr. Gregory Hodge, who passed in February 2019.
SAVE THE DATE: May 15 we will host our 8th Annual Marine Science Symposium at the New York Harbor School. We have the privilege to present as our guest speaker Ms. Rachael Miller, Director of the Rozalia Project and one of the pioneers in ocean plastics research.
The Fall Semester of the 2017-2018 school year has been another successful season for the Marine Biology Research Program (MBRP) and the Harbor SEALs in particular. We began the year with a recruitment campaign for the new cohort, led by our junior and senior leaders, which managed to attract and retain over 25 team members. For those of you unfamiliar with after school science clubs, this is an impressive feat. Next, our grant proposal to ConEdison was successfully submitted and rewarded, with the help of Matthew Haiken from the New York Harbor Foundation. Funds from this grant have allowed us to run our ambitious STEM program preparing the next generation of marine scientists. They also benefit the various animals we house in our Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) including Valrie and Amaya, Red-Eared Slider turtles and hundreds of tilapia. Next, we initiated a special collaboration with one of our professional partner organizations, SUNY Stony Brook, to monitor an underwater sand quarry in the Harbor originally dug out decades ago to provide sand for major construction projects around NYC. Our students plan on compiling and comparing spatial-temporal data to discern changes in sedimentation that may have occurred over time.
In November we celebrated our 8th annual Harbor SEALs-giving with scholars, alumni, colleagues, and friends. Next year we plan on hosting an alumni after-party in lower Manhattan.
December was a busy month during which we convened our Professional Advisory Committee, I took a Master Class on the history of Eugenics run by Dr. Allen Spiegel, Head of Einstein’s School of Medicine, and visited ConEdison’s Learning Center in Queens with our senior research scholars thanks to an invitation by our PAC member, Michael Kessler. Our scholars got a tour of their world-class learning facility and learned about ConEdison’s unique employment programs and benefits as part of their Work-Based Learning program at the New York Harbor School.
In January our senior scholars took their culminating Career and Technical Education assessments. All seniors took and passed the NOCTI Natural Resources Systems exam. Most scholars also qualified for three college credits through the assessment in Natural Resources Management. We also implemented for the first time the Precision Natural Resource Science assessment. This assessment will replace the NOCTI as part of the Career and Technical Education’s program re-certification process.
Also in January, five of our senior Marine Biology research scholars received notice that they have been accepted to compete in the prestigious New York City Science and Engineering Fair in March! This ranks them among the best science scholars in New York City. Our senior scholars have been busy with their Career and Financial Management course updating their Work-Skills Employabilty Profiles, updating ePortfolios and regular binder portfolios, creating LinkedIn accounts, and initiating an on-line writing exercise called the Self-Authoring Suite thanks to funding from NYC’s Department of Education Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality. I have also had the privilege of meeting with NYC Chancellor of Schools, Ricardo Carranza, to discuss topics in school equity, bias, and diversity, among others, as part of the opportunities offered by the Big Apple Award.
Lastly, the Harbor SEALs monitoring team has accomplished the following objectives this season:
01) Installed heaters to an experimental tank to grow Red-Eared Slider turtles. We were also able to install new air and water pumps.
02) Our Biodiversity team has been hard at work planning the design of a long-term experiment to test for the biodiversity of marine invertebrates using Econcrete tiles in the Hudson River. We are in the process of purchasing the materials and plan on beginning the mixing of Econcrete cement in the coming weeks.
03) Our Physical-Chemical team has also been hard at work calibrating and maintaining their instruments in order to start sampling the Hudson River in February. They have been adding pH probes and conductivity probes to the machines and calibrating them in order to ensure precise and accurate measurements.
04) Our Microbiology team has been training the younglings to sample for E. faecalis and the relative concentrations of plastic and plankton in the Harbor.
05) Our Data Management team has been producing data tables and data flow strategies for our Team’s data collection efforts.
06) Our whole team has gone out for mock sampling events twice in the Fall semester. We plan on starting our field sampling this month.
A heartfelt thank you to all our colleagues, family, friends, post-secondary, and industry partners for your continued support! Happy Lunar New Year!