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July 16, 2007

Students Swim In Knowledge of Aqua Biology Class

Susan Troller
The Capital Times

You can't blame them for screaming, even if it does scare the fish.

The high school students in Paul du Vair's aqua biology summer school course have learned to be extraordinarily game as they explore and record scientific data about Lake Mendota and its Six Mile Creek tributary. But there are a few things that make even these field-tested young ecologists shriek or howl out loud.

Like when they emerge from Lake Mendota or Six Mile Creek with blood-sucking leeches firmly attached to their legs. Or when they are hauling nets through waist-deep, murky water and big dark shapes bump against them. Or when they are wading along and suddenly step deep into a hidden, muck-filled hole.

The 20-odd students who are part of du Vair's three-week summer enrichment biology class are not faint of heart, and they don't complain much. Like generations before them, they are taking part in a Madison institution, the only summer school enrichment course that has survived mostly unchanged from the 1960s.

Paul du Vair is the legendary TAG Biology teacher at Madison East High School.

Posted by Laurie Frost at July 16, 2007 3:41 PM
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