Schuylerville’s ‘Day in the Life of the Hudson River’

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – High school students across the state are helping the Department of Environmental Conservation with scientific data collection. On Thursday nearly 100 schools participated in “Day in the Life of the Hudson River”.

50 Schuylerville Central School District students were at Fort Hardy Park collecting data on the Hudson river's fish and invertebrates, tracking the river's tides and currents, and examining water chemistry and quality. Sophomore Ethan Meskill is one of them and explains.

“We get a bunch of different locations and a bunch of different samples that we can use to determine the health of the ecosystems in the Hudson River,” said Meskill.

More than 5,000 students and educators from over 90 schools across the state participated in the data collecting.

“I think it’s just a really cool opportunity. I especially like that it gives more sense of community within New York state because I think it’s 91 other schools, somewhere around there, that are also doing this taking tests all along the river, and I think it just feels great to be a part of something so much bigger,” said Meskill.

Asher Harrison is a senior at Schuylerville High School and said the information can be used to educate people on GE’s lasting impacts on the area.

“I think our data will stand out compared to the rest just because we are one of the only schools inside the red zone that’s affected by the PCBs and everything like that so I think our data will stand out compared to the rest,” said Harrison.

Agriculture Science and Technology Teacher Carlyn Miller said the data helps the DEC track changes and identify areas of the river they need to target for further testing.

“It definitely gives them a clear picture of the success of dredging, how well the cleanup process has been going, and where we may need to do some more in the future,” said Miller.

She said she will tie the data into their studies on natural resource management. 

“How do those numbers affect how agriculture in our area works? How do those numbers affect how industry operates in our area? And then help them make informed decisions about what they want to see happen to the river in the future because they are almost at the age where their voice is going to determine what happens next,” said Miller. “I just want them to be armed with as much information as possible to make the best decisions as possible.”

Miller said place based education, like this, drives home everything the students have been learning in the classroom. 

“Most interesting was probably the fishing. They took the nets out and they were using the seine net to capture minnows and crayfish and stuff like that,” said Harrison. 

“I just like seeing how many we can get because there’s just such a wide variety of animals here in the Hudson River and I think it’s really important to not only learn about them but also protect them,” said Meskill.

The DEC will send all of those data sets back to the classroom in a few weeks. Miller said they’ll compare their data to downstate’s.

“I really hope that we get to do it in the future. It’s a great way to connect with our environment and ecosystem,” said Meskill.