Nature’s classroom: students embrace hands-on education at Lake Hopatcong

June 23, 2023| Education

By: Donna Macalle Holly

Over the course of 16 spring days, a total of 1,600 students, guided by a team of nearly 60 extraordinary educators and enthusiastic volunteers, experienced an unforgettable day of educational exploration on New Jersey’s largest lake as part of our 2023 educational field trip program.

Along with the excitement of hands-on learning about lake ecology aboard the Floating Classroom, the students also experienced an interactive EnviroScape model to learn the importance of watershed protection and how to keep our waters clean, they explored the health of the Musconetcong River with macroinvertebrate sampling, and they embarked on a discovery hike around Hopatcong State Park to understand how development and forests impact our waterways.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our dedicated educators and volunteers for their commitment and enthusiasm for this educational initiative. Our sincerest appreciation also goes to our program partner, Hopatcong State Park. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the Lake Hopatcong Elks #782, FirstEnergy Foundation, Princeton Hydro, Lillian Schenck Foundation of the PNC Charitable Trusts, the James P. Verhalen Family Foundation, and OHAUS Corporation for their generous support.

Educators and volunteers ready for the first day of field trips.

As a new addition this year, we asked teachers to encourage their students to complete an activity sheet, allowing them to recount their field trip experience at Lake Hopatcong. The responses we received… well… they made us smile, they made us laugh, and occasionally, they even made us tear up a bit.  

Natalie from the Nixon School in Landing poured her heart into a 2 1/2-page summary. Her description of our esteemed Floating Classroom First Mate (and 2023 Gala Honoree!), Larry Orlans, made us all chuckle. She wrote, “Then from the boat there was an eagle and Larry got binoculars to spot the eagle. Then Larry stopped [tied up] the boat and we got off.  Me and Lily say, “Larry does everything.” I had such a fun time. I loved it. I think everyone should go there.”

Scarlett from the Joyce Kilmer School in Milltown (Middlesex County), attempted to capture the essence of the day in her own words. “The weather was perfect for the field trip. There are so many words that could describe the lake and the whole day. Words like amazing, memorable, fun, fresh, exciting and lots more.”

Jill from the Franklin School in Succasunna shared her enthusiasm for the EnviroScape lesson. “My favorite thing we did was using the markers at the watershed station. It was so interesting because we made the pollution, oil, and other chemicals wash down into the lake. It helped me to learn about how to protect the environment.” She also noted, “It was cool how we could participate in everything.  All of the people were kind. It was a wonderful and magical trip.”

An East Dover student wrote, “I observed many items in nature that the volunteers explained to us. Something that stuck out to me was that the people that volunteered were very dedicated to the lake. One thing that caught my attention was the activities, they were super interesting.  Thank you Lake Hopatcong for planning this trip!”

Miss Metzgar, a teacher from the Academy Street School in Dover, also completed the activity sheet. Her response echoes our own feelings, “I learned that science in nature can’t be beat. Classroom experiments don’t compare to really being in the great outdoors! Thank you!”