Ute Pass Elementary students release trout they raised from eggs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)--On Wednesday, students from Ute Pass Elementary in Manitou Springs were treated to an outdoor lecture and released trout they had raised from eggs.
More than 30 students released about 75 trout into the water at Fields Park as part of a program with Colorado Trout Unlimited.
"This is a super cool experience where I was able to do things that I would never have done before, and especially with my classmates learning how to raise a trout and feed them and work with them every day," said Rue Ottmer, a sixth-grade student.
Students from 3rd through 6th grade went on a five-mile field trip after spending more than four weeks taking care of the trout.
"The craziest part was probably when they first went from eggs to like turning into the fish, that was like the funnest part to see because like a few would be eggs and the like a few would be fish just like swimming around," said Angelo Abeyta, a sixth-grade student.
This is the third year in a row that the school has participated in this program.
"So the mission of Trout in the Classroom is to connect students with their local watershed. And by raising trout in the classroom, not only are they learning about trout biology, about the life cycle of trout, but they get to hopefully then release the trout into a local watershed," said Natalie Flowers with Colorado Trout Unlimited.
And every year students have a blast.
"So all the students throughout the year really take care of the fish and learn to love and take care of them and learn a lot about it," said Miles Groth, Ute Pass science teacher.
The goal for Colorado Trout Unlimited and Ute Pass Elementary is to help students learn more about nature and why it's so important to respect our ecosystem in general.
"So trout are native to Colorado. And so here in Colorado, they are a very important element of the watershed habitat and ecosystem. And so without trout, we don't have, you know, really one of the foundational models of the ecosystem and, you know, they're part of the food chain," added Flowers.
Ute Pass Elementary hopes to continue this tradition for many more years and to inspire other schools to do the same.
