Contributing to Community Science Through the Billion Oyster Project

On a breezy, sunny morning earlier this week, Saint David’s seventh graders could be found at the East 90th Street Ferry Pier contributing to community science.

As they monitored the Billion Oyster Project restoration site, the boys hoisted oyster cages out of the East River which came up filled not only with oysters but a variety of marine life including crabs, a skillet fish, worms, and snails. They surveyed the biodiversity they encountered, counted and measured the oysters, and tested the quality of the water - which on this particular day was quite clear and clean.  

Over several visits the boys will make to the site this fall, they will will learn to collect data with precision and conduct data analysis, which in turn provides insight on oyster growth, water quality, and trends over time beyond the reef sites. 

This experience dovetails with their classroom study of environmental science and estuaries, and is an example of how strong values manifest within our science program. What begins as fieldwork becomes something more: a lesson in environmental systems as well as collaboration, observation, and stewardship.