Earlier this year, The Press did a series on some of the clubs offered to students attending Salisbury Middle School.

The closing of the school year brings The Press back into the hallways of SMS with a special feature on the sixth grade outdoor program. With the help of Special Education Teacher Andrew Makhoul, three programs were chosen and will be highlighted in the next few weeks, starting with one about a special hike from SMS to the Li’l-Le-Hi Trout Nursery.

Recently, The Press joined Makhoul and 20 sixth graders on a hike from the grounds of SMS to the Li’l-Le-Hi Trout Nursery. The purpose was simple: meet Science Teacher Gary Schweyer to release 22 fingerlings that had been growing in their classroom and will eventually become rainbow trout.

The hike took about 15 minutes, first walking through a field in the back of SMS which led to a forest-area. Walking down a rough terrain, the group arrived on a pathway which would eventually lead the group to the Li’l-Le-Hi Trout Nursery, where Schweyer was waiting.

The fingerlings were released and there was a brief check-in by the students on Makhoul’s Instagram live.

“Students, with the support from Mr. Schweyer, helped raise them from eggs to sac-fry to fingerlings,” Makhoul explained to The Press. “This included feeding them daily and ensuring all equipment was running properly to maintain/mimic conditions in the wild. It’s been about four months since the eggs were received.

“While students weren’t responsible for measuring growth, Schweyer had to maintain a count of how many eggs were received, how many hatched and how many survived by the time we released them all.”

The group spent another 20 minutes looking around and learning about the different trout found at the fishery. A few even took time to feed them.

“I’m learning how to spot trout,” Nolan Batista told The Press. He added how this was proving to be a really fun day and his favorite part hike.

Vanessa Sperlbaum agreed the hike was the best part. “I’ve been here before but I’ve never walked it,” she said. She also enjoyed seeing and learning about rainbow trout.

“I’m enjoying seeing all the fish and the variety. I didn’t even know that trout was a type of fish. I knew nothing about fish,” classmate Jeremiah Simpson said. He finds fish interesting but said of the day, “I enjoyed the hike. The hike was more fun.”

Reflecting on the day, Schweyer said, “The purpose was to be able to identify the qualities of a good trout stream like the Little Lehigh, that runs by our building. What makes it a good trout stream? The ecosystem of trout because I raise trout in the classroom and try to create that ecosystem. And then learning to identify the different types of trout that are down in the Li’l-Le-Hi Trout Nursery.”