Pipe Creek project piques Sandusky students' interest

[gallery]SANDUSKY — To learn more about local wildlife, area students traded a brick and mortar classroom for wooded spaces and got their hands dirty this week.Third and fourth-grade students from the Regional Center for Advanced Academic Studies assisted with restoration projects at Pipe Creek Wildlife area Wednesday. Fifth and sixth-grade students will return Thursday for similar activities. Ultimately, volunteers want to improve the area's water quality and quality of life for animals living there by eliminating invasive species. Divided into groups, students planted black-eyed susans and bluestem grass in a rain garden created by Friends of the Pipe Creek volunteers. The goal: Rainwater flowing into the rain garden would be cleaned by the plants before it goes into the lake.In the rain garden, third-graders Violet Wobser and Connor O'Rork worked together to plant black-eyed Susans. They took turns loosening the plant from its container and using a hand shovel to dig small holes in the garden for planting."My favorite part is helping the Earth and keeping the soil clean," O'Rork said.Students also scoured for worms and other organisms under rocks, logs and within the soil near the shoreline. For a class project, they'll see which organisms are the best at decomposing, or recycling organisms into chemical nutrients. At times, students found insects they've never seen before. After overturning a large rock, fourth-grader Kamryn Schonhardt unearthed a strange-looking insect with a long, slender body and legs. She flipped through a field guide, discovering the bug matched the characteristics of a rock crawler."You found it," said Cari Ritzenthaler, a school volunteer with the Dorn Foundation, before she high-fived Kamryn.Kamryn said she enjoyed looking for worms and hopes to become an ecologist or marine biologist.Fourth-grade teacher Karen Foss said the experience was meaningful for students. "We're just trying to get out in the community and bring awareness," she said. "They're learning more (about the environment) here than in the classroom."Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com, follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood and on Facebook.com/CaitliNearhoodThird-graders Violet Wobser, 9, and Connor O'Rork, 9, work together to plant native flowers in a rain garden at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area Wednesday. Regional Center for Advanced Academic Studies third graders help plant a rain garden at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area in Sandusky on Wednesday, May 16, 2018. Regional Center for Advanced Academic Studies students Adra Wozniak, 8, Kaleigh Moore, 9, and Rylie Kaczka, 9, rake out soil for another rain garden at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area in Sandusky Wednesday morning. Taliyah Farris, 9, and Morgan Avallone, 10, watch for worms during a science exercise with their class at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area in Sandusky on Wednesday, May 16, 2018. Sam Kennedy, 9, weeds a little bluestem grass plant before classmates plant it in a rain garden at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area.