Junior Scientists

Junior Scientist program recognized for environmental stewardship. Click here for details!

Our award-winning Nauticus/Norfolk Public Schools Junior Scientists Club consists of 20 sixth through eighth graders from Ruffner and Northside Middle Schools in Norfolk, Virginia. We were selected by our teachers based upon our interest in the club and pursuing a future career in the field of science.

Purpose:

Our Junior Scientists Club was started in 1999 to provide an after-school program to selected students that would focus on a diversity of science-related fields and topics.

Oysters:

Studying oysters and their habitats has become one of the most essential projects that we have dealt with. We, in conjunction with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, are helping to save the oysters of the Elizabeth River by conducting research and recording statistical data on their declining population. After caring for our oysters for a year, we release them to a local reef on the Elizabeth River. This will be our tenth year at successfully raising oysters.

Time:

The Junior Scientists meet twice a month. One day is for caring for our oysters, conducting water chemistry, and identifying other organisms found living within an oyster ecosystem. The other day is for learning communication and writing skills through creating and presenting slide shows and hands-on activities.

The Junior Scientists Club is sponsored in part by Nauticus Foundation and Norfolk Public Schools.

For more information about the Junior Scientists Club, please call (757) 664-1041.