While most people don’t know that this is in their school, Ms. Kelli Glorso-McCabe has a yearly hands-on learning experience in environmental science, releasing rainbow trout that students raised into the South Platte River. This annual tradition shows students that what happens in the classroom can transfer over to real-world impact, in this case, nature conservation.
The program started when Glorso-McCabe says, “I learned about these programs through a district contact and became interested in Colorado’s rivers and ecosystems.” Seeing how much trout matter to the state, she researched the Colorado Trout Unlimited program, where they will provide eggs and food to schools. “I’m grateful that the Littleton Public Schools Foundation was able to provide the funding needed to start this program,” Glorso-McCabe added.
The students are responsible for raising the fish during the school year. They will monitor water quality, fish weight, and most importantly, how many fish they have. “We take out different fish and put them in a separate tub on a scale while another student takes a water sample,” said Eric Bienstock `26. During this process, they will learn about watersheds, including how local areas all connect to larger and larger areas. “I never really thought about how each creek and river connects… It’s cool how even the creek behind school will go so far, and what’s in it,” said Bienstock. The class will help monitor the natural water health before the release.
The release is exciting and sad; students raise these fish from eggs and watch them grow just to release them into the wild. “It’s an awesome and sometimes saddening experience for students to release the fish they’ve helped take care of into the South Platte!” says Glorso-McCabe.
This program continues to improve each year due to both good and bad events. The infamous power outage of the 2023/24 school year caused major deaths in the class fish population, and has led to many new backup systems and batteries. As this tradition is a lot of work, Glorso-McCabe adjusts the project to fit the students. “I hope it’s an exciting and memorable way for students to learn more about the world around them, and to help students get into conservation and maybe even fishing!” mentioned Glorso-McCabe.