LHS Senior Takes Part in Summer Sustainability Academy

Editor's Note: The following news brief was submitted by .

LHS senior Josh Dutko received acceptance to the Stockton Summer Sustainability and Environmental Academy and attended the two-week program this summer.

Joining rising seniors from high schools in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, Josh's experience included a unique ecological system of stunted pine trees, energy production and conservation, ground water protection efforts, biological diversity, and sustainable agriculture and organic farms.

Learn more about his self-proclaimed Stockton Super Summer Epic Adventure here:

Lawrence High School senior Josh Dutko experienced current sustainability and environmental issues in New Jersey during an intensive two-week science academy at the Richard Stockton College in July 2012.

Josh (shown in the photo above, center in his red Lawrence shirt) was one of several participating rising seniors from high schools in the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania area.

The photograph was taken in the pygmy pines in Ocean County, a unique ecological system of stunted pine trees that scientist continue to debate after many decades of research. Fire ecology and nutrient poor soil chemistry are key factors in this ecosystem.

Energy production and conservation were highlighted by a visit to the Atlantic County Utilities Authority where wind turbines, solar energy, landfill methane recovery and municipal composting sites were made available to the students.

Ground water protection efforts and water treatment facilities were visited and water samples taken from locations pre and post treatment as well as within the preserved National Pinelands Protection area for comparison.

South Jersey’s agricultural sites were visited and their impacts to water and surrounding lands were evaluated. Sustainable agriculture and organic farms with composting, bee hives and water conservation techniques and were also investigated.

Some of New Jersey’s most wild and undeveloped areas in the state were explored and evaluated for biological diversity. The students surveyed for and observed endangered and threatened animals and plants such as the Pine Barrens tree frog, northern pine snake and curly grass fern.

Students canoed and camped within the wilderness areas of the Pine Barrens in Wharton State Forest, and surveyed bird populations in preserved barrier beach habitat in the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Management Area. The Great Bay estuary was surveyed by boat with various instruments and included water sampling, seining for aquatic diversity (during which thirty‐five different species were collected) and bird observations.

It is no wonder that Josh renamed the Stockton Summer Sustainability and Environmental Academy (SSSEA) the Stockton Super Summer Epic Adventure!