Angela Smith from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Washoe Hatchery

Angela Smith has worked at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Washoe Hatchery in Anaconda for two years. Mark Sweeney, the Washoe Hatchery manager, is highly supportive of educational outreach from the hatchery. As a result, Angela works with students whenever she can. The hatchery provides tours for school groups, offers their facilities for student research and provides fish dissections to schools upon request.

CFWEP’s Trout in the Classroom began December 2005. Trout in the Classroom was developed by the National Trout Unlimited, is used nationwide, and is supported heavily by our local Trout Unlimited Chapters. A school involved in the program receives equipment for raising fish in the classroom and eyed trout eggs. Students watch the eggs hatch and raise the young. The fish serve as a springboard to discuss topics such as water chemistry, fisheries science and embryology. Mark and Angela were immediate supporters of the program, providing valuable advice whenever possible. CFWEP and Angela had their first team dissection with the Bonner School 7th grade February 2006 with teacher Sean Kiffe. The students expressed how much they enjoyed the lesson (and so did we!) and we immediately began planning to expand next year.

Angela became fully immersed in CFWEP’s 2006-2007 Trout in the Classroom program. Angela facilitated Washoe’s donation of rainbow trout eggs for the schools – 250 eggs divided between five schools. When the eggs arrived a full week ahead of schedule, Angela gathered the eggs and geared up for a quick visit to all five schools with only one hour notice. As we visited each school to drop off the eggs, Angela talked with teachers and left each feeling even more knowledgeable and confident in the care of their new classmates. Disaster struck at Philipsburg School a few weeks after we left the eggs and they lost all of their fish. Angela brought a new batch of fish, the same age as their fish would have been, and the class continued on for the remainder of the semester.

Most of all, Angela has been busy with fish dissections. Students work in small groups in a lab format to dissect a fish following lab instructions and labeling the parts on a diagram. The fish are donated from the hatchery (again, thank you Washoe). Over the last month, Angela and CFWEP visited five schools for fish dissections. Angela provided 13 hours of teaching in the classroom and met with 250 students! Her total hours spent volunteering with CFWEP, including her teaching hours, was much larger – close to 50 hours since December! Schools in Bonner, Philipsburg, Elliston, Deer Lodge and Anaconda all benefited from her efforts.

Word has spread about Angela. Outside of her time with CFWEP, she visited the Wisdom school for a fish dissection by request. Angela is fantastic in the classroom. During dissections, students work in small groups going through the lab independently while Angela provides help wherever needed. When stopping to visit with students, Angela adds to the lessons with her own expertise and stories about work at the hatchery, what life is like for a wild fish, and the dissection – best of all, how to open the brain! Her presence makes the dissections more enjoyable for the students, and no dissection would be quite the same with out her.

Trout in the Classroom is not the only CFWEP program Angela finds time to be involved in. In May 2006, the Washoe Hatchery opened their doors for a visit from a Butte Central High School Environmental Issues class. The students toured the hatchery and visitor center and shuffled into a shelter to observe the hatchery spawning cutthroat trout stocks. What an experience! In December 2005, Angela, Mark and hatchery intern Becky braved the cold and snow to talk with Anaconda High School students about fish in the Warm Springs Creek.

Outside of CFWEP, Angela is involved with Expanding Your Horizons (EYH), another Montana Tech Technical Outreach Department program that seeks to increase student interest in math and science and introduce students to positive female role models. At the 2007 EYH event on March 31, Angela provided a workshop based on her career in fisheries for middle school students and participated in a speaker panel answering student questions.

Angela has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic in her involvement with CFWEP and other outreach efforts. It has been wonderful working with her and the rest of the Washoe Hatchery staff.

Thank you, Angela!

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