Students from six different school districts convened at Richfield Springs Central School on Tuesday for its annual Science Lecture Symposium.
This is the fifth year for the event and included juniors and seniors from Richfield Springs, Mount Markham, Morris, Little Falls, Cherry Valley and Owen D. Young.
Organizer of the event is the technology coordinator and biology teacher for Richfield Springs Central School, Jim Hill.
“The idea here is to present students with college type lectures that fit in with what they’re learning in science class,” Hill said.
The topic for this year’s lecture series was “The State of New York State’s Natural Resources.”
Hill said he heard from some teachers about how well this topic fits in with the Living Environment classes in the districts.
“We hope these lectures will go beyond would the students would normally learn in a classroom and expand that out to real life,” Hill said. “It’s a great way to make science come to life.”
“It is indeed rare for high school students to be exposed to one such lecture during their high school careers, let alone four lectures in one day,” Hill added. “So we’re excited to be hosting this again this year.”
The lecture series featured four experts in their respective fields of study who presented hour-long lectures to the students.
The first lecture was given by Rick Brockway, Naturalist and Writer who talked about “The Northville Lake Placid Trail.”
The second lecture was on “A Bug’s Life: A Threat to New York’s Forest,” and was given by Dan Gaidasz, Senior Forester New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Region 4.
Matt Albright from the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station gave the third lecture and it was on “The Impacts of Exotic Aquatic Species in New York State: An Overview.”
The final lecture was given by Dr. R. Scrafford DVM from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and was on “Rabies: From 0 to 60,000 in the Blink of an Ocean.”
Following each of the lectures students had the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers, ranging from the topic they were speaking on to how they got involved in the career they are in.
Hill said the symposium is open to any schools as he sent out an invitation to many area schools. The Large Group Instruction Room, where the symposium is held, can only accommodate 100 students, so Hill said it is first come first serve.