Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

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Biology students from Tates Creek High scraped the bottom of Gainesway Pond to see what type of macro-invertebrates might live there.

For this field trip, students in Danielle Mink’s biology class didn’t even need to board a bus. They simply trekked a few hundred yards down to Gainesway Pond, off Centre Parkway near the Tates Creek High School campus.

“When we can go right outside our back door and get them doing things with the environment, it’s a good thing,” said Mink, who was Kentucky’s 2008 High School Science Teacher of the Year.

During their recent trip to the pond, students conducted water-quality sampling and recorded the water temperature as well as pH, nitrate and dissolved oxygen levels. The teens also raked the bottom of the pond with nets to see what kind of macro-invertebrates live there, such as leeches, aquatic worms and crayfish.

“The more diversity you see, the healthier it is,” said Pattie Stivender, an environmental educator with Bluegrass PRIDE, who directed the students’ efforts.

The pond, which is undergoing an $830,000 renovation thanks to an EPA grant, eventually will serve as a science learning lab for kids from all three Tates Creek schools.

“They’ve done an excellent job of making that into a usable educational area,” Mink said.

Under the guidance of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, work crews started last fall by draining the pond, which is fed mostly by storm-water runoff.

“It went from being a pond to being a pond/wetlands area,” Stivender said.

Crews also installed a litter trap above the wetlands to catch trash coming downstream.

“The whole purpose is to improve the water quality,” said Stivender, noting that the streams the pond drains into will also benefit.

Workers are adding plantings along the edge of the pond to further filter the water.

All this cleanup and restructuring have altered the plant and animal life in and around the pond.

“Now we’re going to see how it will heal itself,” said Mink, who added that in her International Baccalaureate class, the kids study indicator species to gauge the quality of natural habitats. “Now we have a long-range project to work with.”

Bluegrass PRIDE, which plans to install interpretive signs along the boardwalk, will lead a professional development session in June to explore the outdoor classroom’s potential. Teachers from the three Tates Creek schools and from nearby Millcreek Elementary can participate, and each school will receive a stream-testing kit.

Mink said such hands-on activities are crucial for today’s students.

“Getting kids outdoors and getting them engaged in the outdoors is major because they’re losing that connection,” she said. “If you can get them outdoors and experiencing things in a positive way, perhaps they’ll take more interest in the world’s future.”