Institute excites teachers, school officials

Opportunities likely for students of all ages

By Erikah Haavie
Poughkeepsie Journal

 

Karl Rabe/Poughkeepsie Journal Poughkeepsie High School senior Christina Bartley, back, Red Hook High School senior Nicole Kelly and Franklin D. Roosevelt High School senior Christine Fairbanks take a close look at a whitesucker fish this month. The fish was taken from the Indian Kill near Old Post Road in Hyde Park.

BEACON -- A new scientific center along the Hudson River has local educators excited about the teaching opportunities it could bring.

Gov. George Pataki announced Monday that Beacon was selected as the home of the Rivers and Estuaries Center on the Hudson, originally proposed in 2000.

The center, located on 64 acres along the Hudson River, is expected to offer a conference center, classrooms and laboratories for research and educational programs.

''It seems like there would be a lot of opportunities there,'' said Jacob Lawrence, an earth science teacher at Arlington High School.

The center's educational programs are expected to reach everyone from kindergarten students to post-doctorate fellows, according to its strategic plan.

Programs could offer students the chance to study the river on research vessels and field stations. The plan also calls for the development of educational materials for children and teacher training programs.

General public could benefit

The general public could also benefit from river education through lectures and a citizen scientist program, which would allow people to take part in collecting data for research.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, established in 1930 in Massachusetts has been called a model for the center.

The institute offers a number of educational programs, including numerous graduate work opportunities in oceanography, and science information for kindergarten to high school students.

While the Beacon center isn't expected to open until 2006, local educators are enthused.

''This is a wonderful opportunity for the Beacon school system,'' Deputy Superintendent Lloyd Jaeger said.

From an education perspective, he called it ''a dream come true'' to have such a facility in your backyard.

The district hopes it can become partners with the center, as it has with the new Dia arts center in Beacon. Jaeger said the district plans to develop and coordinate a science program at each school level.

The center could open doors for students perhaps to take measurements or water and soil collections, he said.

When he taught in Baltimore, Lawrence worked with a nonprofit education foundation to plan field trips for students to Chesapeake Bay.

''I'm interested in finding out more,'' he said.

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