Fifth graders in Poland have been learning about ecology and the lifecycle of nature, thanks to a different kind of school – a school of brook trout, that is.

The 65 students had been raising trout from eggs in their classroom as part of an annual project. On Friday, the students released them into the wild.

The Poland Community School students marched to the Waterhouse Brook next to the fire station pulling a red wagon with an insulated bag. 

Inside was a plastic cylindrical container with enough water to hold roughly 250-300 fingerlings, each less than an inch long and swimming in circles in the container. 

The students have been monitoring the fish since they were first brought to the school as eggs in January, Math teacher Kristie Ferland said. The students monitored conditions such as temperature and water quality, and collected data every day.

“Having the trout in the classroom is like having a hatchery in our classroom, honestly,” Ferland said. “It also makes our students stewards of Maine watersheds, and with that we also believe that creating the passion for environmental sustainability now at an early age is going to lead them into being more conscientious of our environment, in Maine and everything else, as they’re growing up.”

The Poland Spring Company has been sponsoring the project nearly every year since the early 2000s. Ferland said she has been working with the kids on the project for the past 13 years. She described with enthusiasm the wonder the kids greet the project with.

“They’re very surprised, because basically it’s just a little ball with two black dots, and to know that those were their eyes, and how that they were growing, and then how the fish became a fry and started to expand and grow, and all the different steps, it was amazing to watch the process,” she said. 

On Friday, the kids took small plastic cups and, one by one, released the fingerlings into the brook. They were told to name the fish as they released them. Names varied from “Turbo” to “Whirlpool” to “Fish sticks.”

“He went right in when I tipped him out (into the brook),” student Iris Banaitis, 11, said, referring to one of the fish.

August Orlando, 10, said he liked taking part in the project.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s just cool to see how they start off as eggs, and then they grow into fish.” 

Another fifth grader, Vivian Lautt, said the whole project was lots of fun, especially the final release.

“I liked dumping them into the river,” she said.

The brook, Ferland said, helps feed the ecosystem of the Androscoggin River and its watershed.