Early August Post

Hello CLEAR Veterans and Teachers!

Last Friday the certificates and copies of the final presentation went out in the mail. Please let me know if you did not receive yours.

As I indicated in the letter that came with the mailing, all CLEAR veterans are invited to attend a Project CLEAR meeting at the Danbury Office of Education Connection on August 23rd. We will meet from 8:30 until 10:30. You will be asked to give specific feedback about Project CLEAR and your experiences. I will also tell you about the opportunities that are available to you as a CLEAR veteran. Please let me know if you can make it by writing to me at tqadams@gmail.com

Thanks everyone. I hope your summer is going great!

Tom Adams

First Summer Post

Hello Project CLEAR veterans, teachers and friends. The highly successful 2007 Project CLEAR is behind us and for me the dust is finally beginning to settle. In the next couple of weeks a mailing will be going home with copies of the final presentation and any relevant certificates.

Meanwhile, I wanted to make sure you all knew about an opportunity to get your Connecticut Safe Boating Certificate. The Candlewood Lake Authority Marine Patrol is organizing this class. It will take place over the course of 2 mondays- July 23 and July 30 from 4-8 at the Candlewood Lake Club. If you would like to register please call the Candlewood Lake Authority at 860-354-6928.

Thanks to all for your hard work and dedication this summer in the field. Stay in touch!

Tom Adams
Program Director
Project CLEAR

CLEAR WestConn Day 1

A great day today for CLEAR and our last field day. Tomorrow we head to the WCSU midtown campus where we will work on translating our collected data into presentations.

We will be split up into 3 classrooms tomorrow. Lunch will be pizza and will be delivered to the snack bar where we ate during the school years days. Please remember to bring 4 dollars for the pizza for tomorrow (and for today if you didn't have it.)

There will be computers for us to use but they will not be on WCSU's network. We may or may not have Internet access on our computers but each classroom should have one WCSU computer with network and internet.

Thanks to all for your work out in the field. I am really looking forward to seeing your presentation on Wednesday night.

See you tomorrow!

CLEAR so far...

Project CLEAR 2007 is off to a fantastic start. We have more students than ever before participating, the weather has been quite cooperative and a visit by a Danbury News Times reporter and photographer on Friday led to a front page article on Saturday. Cool.

Having said that, the most impressive thing about CLEAR to me is the commitment of the students. Their willingness to show up and work hard all day now that the school year has ended is incredible. I am really looking forward to Wednesday night's presentation but there is a lot of work and three very full days between now and then.

Pizza for lunch tomorrow folks. We will need you to pitch in 4 dollars if you can. Drop a line with any questions or feel free to comment in response to this post.

Tom A.

Here We Go....

Tomorrow is Thursday June 21, the first field day of Project CLEAR 2007. An unprecedented number of students from the 5 towns around Candlewood Lake are slated to participate in this authentic experience. Be sure to bring sunscreen since the weather is supposed to be just about perfect!

Stay posted to this space for updates as the field days go by. Post your replies and comments here if you have any.

See you tomorrow everyone!

Tom Adams

Project CLEAR Presents!

This Saturday June 9th, three Project CLEAR students traveled with me to the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut to present at the National Association of Lake Management Societies conference. They were not merely the only high school students presenting at the conference, they were also the only high school students attending!.

This conference, attended primarily by science professionals and lake management committee members, was a regional meeting of the national organization. Attendees came from across New England and New York.

Kelli, Kristin and Zach, the Project CLEAR students, presented “High School Student Involvement in Data Gathering and Analysis: Project CLEAR”. Veterans of last year’s CLEAR, the three confidently spoke about their experiences doing real science work as the final presentation from last year was shown in the background. The presentation was very well received with nearly all the seats filled and a lengthy round of applause at the conclusion.

It was extraordinary for me to see the quality of the presentation and the response they received. Given the seriousness with which the crowd takes the subject of lake management, I can’t imagine feeling more pleased or proud of the students who presented and of all the students who were responsible for that work.

Well done Kelli, Kristin and Zach!