[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Dregosc_Diana.jpg” caption=”Diana Dregosc, co-ordinator of the Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]The rise in volunteer numbers in the Let's Talk Science Partnership Program (LTSPP) at McMaster has left the excited yet overwhelmed coordinator, Diana Dregosc, looking for some extra help. The solution turned out to be Laura Wells, a PhD student in chemical engineering who has taken on the role of co-coordinator.

The result of a little freed up time is that Dregosc has been able to focus on the development and implementation of a new outreach project called the Atlantic Salmon Reintroduction Initiative.

Thanks to funding from the Hamilton Community Foundation through the Edith Turner Grant Fund, she can go forward with plans to introduce a new environmental science program in local Hamilton schools.

Three kits will be temporarily installed at three “high needs” schools. They will be used to teach students important skills, knowledge and attitudes about environmental science.

Once a keystone species of the Lake Ontario watershed, Atlantic salmon were eradicated in the late 1800s. Classrooms will be provided with hatcheries and Atlantic salmon eggs. With the assistance of LTSPP volunteers, the classes will care for them until they are large enough to release into the watershed at Bronte Creek. Elementary students and their McMaster mentors will participate in a joint field trip to introduce the Atlantic salmon back into their natural habitat.

“Starting this January, the Atlantic Salmon Reintroduction Initiative will help expand our science outreach program,” said Dregosc. “The Atlantic Salmon Reintroduction Initiative gives us a chance to continue to educate the community's less privileged youth not only in aspects of science, but in the preservation of our community's natural environments and the species within them.”

The LTSPP is ideally suited to coordinate this venture. This enthusiastic group of graduate students volunteer their time and become role models, sharing their passion for science with students in the community.

The hatchery kits will provide classrooms with the opportunity to participate directly in the re-introduction of Atlantic salmon to their natural habitat.

“The kits will address several needs, such as limited hands-on resources in community school classrooms, little exposure of students to scientists in their community and the lack of environmental knowledge and application,” said Alison Sills, associate dean of studies for the Faculty of Science. “The volunteers that make up the base of knowledge through the LTSPP at McMaster University are a vital resource in the Hamilton Community and will be able to connect the student with the science at McMaster University.”

The environmental challenges the world faces today can be met and overcome one step at a time. It is the commitments and efforts of volunteers like Dregosc and her team at McMaster who are taking that first step with purpose and determination.