Step 1

In step one, students constructed a cause-and-effect tree to acquire an idea of the concerns in the bay. These trees included the root causes, the main environmental concern, and the effects. Pupils identified these issues as oyster removal, mangrove removal, erosion, pollution, and global warming. Effects included decrease in marine life, thinning sands, polluted skies and waters, and melting ice caps. We also participated in an interactive art project where our teams designed what they believed best reflected an environmental citizen.

We decided to focus on water quality and make oyster reef restoration our main topic.

"Our strategy is to revive oysters, clean water, engage community and lead eco-friendly change for a healthier Hillsborough Bay."

Step 2

Issue Selection

During this step, teams filled out a table with 5 different issues with 5 different criteria and rated them based on how relevant they anticipated them to be. The 5 issues we identified are water quality, oyster presence, storm surge, animals in the bay, and discarded oyster shells from restaurants. The 5 criteria were community, participation, accessibility, sustainability, and educator needs.  We learned that one oyster has the ability to filter around 50 gallons of water per day.  We also learned that our school is located in what used to be Tampa's first fishing village named Spanishtown Creek and that oysters in those days were so abundant along the bay-shore that people said they grew on trees... mangroves of course.  Then, we looked at how a group in Manatee County, The Gulf Coast Oyster Recycling and Renewal (GCORR) Program, addressed similar issues in their area.  Our subsequent brainstorm was conducted on JamBoard.

Step 3

In this step, our teams created a stakeholder map. Students said that families with houses on or near the bay, restaurants providing oysters, waste treatment companies, city officials, water treatment companies, living things around or in the bay, local fisheries, fishermen and the organization called Tampa Bay Watch were all stakeholders. Students also created grids that showed how much these stakeholders are impacted by the water quality of Hillsborough Bay. Mr. Comellas also brought in some guest speakers who talked to us about water quality and how the impacts are both land and marine based.  We determined that an important community issue that targeted water quality and encouraged the health of the everglades was the presence of oysters. 

Mission, Vison & Strategy

With all that we learned about regarding the absence of not only oysters, but seagrass and mangroves in Hillsborough Bay, we knew that the health of these organisms would influence the health of our entire area. In step four we defined our Mission, Vision and Strategy.  Mr. C said that our strategy statement should be short and memorable. He said that while our Mission should describe what we want to do, our Vision should describe who we want to become.  We described vision more specifically by asking ourselves, who do we want to be as a school, as a generation and as environmental citizens.  Mr. C expanded upon these core values in some longer statements so that we can use the data in the future on grant proposals.

Our Memorable Strategy Statement:  "Our strategy is to revive oysters, clean water, engage community and lead eco-friendly change for a healthier Hillsborough Bay."

Mission: Our goal is to help bring back oysters in Hillsborough Bay. We want to make more oysters, make the water cleaner, and protect against storms. We also want to tell people about local and global environmental problems and get everyone involved to make the bay cleaner

Vision

As a school: We want to be problem solvers who make our community and bay better. We'll plant oysters and get others to do it too. We want other schools to follow our lead and become more ecofriendly.

As a generation: We see ourselves as the ones who make a difference. We'll learn about environmental problems and speak up about them, making Hillsborough Bay better for the future.

As environmental citizens: We want to take care of our environment. By using oysters, we'll make the water in Hillsborough Bay cleaner. We'll teach others and inspire them to take action too.

We were honored to have Tate Vangellow and Susan Toth from the Everglades Foundation share with our students at Wilson Middle School.  Tate taught us about the KOE Watershed and Florida Ecosystems.  Susan took a look at our Champions in Action plan and gave us some pointers about how to better highlight the civic engagement aspects of our project.  Encouraged by what we learned we made plans to visit the Upper Everglades at Disney Wilderness Preserve to see for ourselves where this Florida River of Grass begins.

Extended Strategy Statement

We plan to improve the water in Hillsborough Bay by talking to important people like the Mayor of Tampa, our school principal, local businesses, restaurants, homeowners near the coast, the Everglades Foundation, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Tampa Bay Watch and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. We want to change rules and habits to help the bay, like getting restaurants to recycle oyster shells and encouraging other schools to join in. We also want homeowners to start their own oyster gardens, and we're hoping to get money and support from the city to help make all of this happen.

Grant Proposal Version

Mission: Our mission is to restore oyster habitats in Hillsborough Bay, aiming to expand the oyster population, improve water quality, and manage storm surge damage. We seek to spread awareness for local and global environmental issues and involve the community in the restoration process, ultimately ensuring cleaner water in the bay.

Vision:

As a school: We aspire to be problem solvers who positively influence our community and bay, actively participating in the restoration efforts by reestablishing oyster gardens and encouraging others to do the same. We aim to become a role model for other schools, embodying a green, renewable ethos.

As a generation: We envision ourselves as informed agents of change, addressing local environmental issues through inquiry and advocacy, ultimately improving the quality and significance of Hillsborough Bay for future generations.

As environmental citizens: We strive to be stewards of our environment, using oysters as a tool to enhance water quality in Hillsborough Bay. We aim to foster awareness and action, serving as beacons of change, knowledge, and stability.

Strategy Statement: Our strategy involves advocating for improved water quality in Hillsborough Bay by engaging key stakeholders such as the Mayor of Tampa, the Wilson Middle School Principal, local businesses, restaurants, coastal homeowners, the Everglades Foundation, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Tampa Bay Watch and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. We aim to influence policy and practice changes, including recycling of oyster shells by restaurants, encouraging participation from other schools, implementing rules to enhance water quality, and fostering the establishment of oyster gardens by coastal homeowners. Additionally, we seek grant funding and city-wide support to advance our restoration efforts.

Step 5

Planning and Taking Action

In step 5, students developed an action planning sheet that consisted of the environmental issue, policy or practice to be changed, project goal, strategy, and key parts or the strategy. All students had the same environmental issue, but their answers varied based off the specific research section. Individual groups also created a community task sheet that assisted in the understanding of how we are going to complete our project. Mr. C took us on a shoreline cleanup so that we could see what a shoreline restoration project looked like.  We saw both black and red mangroves in the area near the mouth of the Hillsborough River.  With returning oysters to the water as the major focus of our project, we came up with two plans. (1) Encourage restaurants to recycle oyster shells; (2) Return Oyster shells back to the water.  Although the city does not have a location yet, where oyster shells can be dropped off, we found that restaurants were willing to participate and we even purchased some 13 gallon compost bins as a model for what could be used for oyster shell collection in the restaurants.  Mr. C invited Reagan Fennessy of Tampa Bay Watch to our school and she taught us how to build Vertical Oyster Gardens.  We also learned about unique marine organisms from University Professor Michael Middlebrooks and we were introduced to water quality measurement tools by Environmental Engineer Daniel Hammond.  We surveyed students on campus and learned who had mangroves or a dock in their backyard so that they could help us with some locations to hang these vertical oyster gardens. Finally we designed and constructed our very own Vertical Oyster Garden Adoption Station so that people in our community who had a dock or mangroves in their backyard could hang the VOGs and see how the oysters colonize.

Step 6

Students Participating in the Heart of a Watershed Activity 

One goal of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP) is to manage water quality within south Florida estuaries. Providing the proper mix of freshwater to simulate natural estuarine conditions promotes growth, reproduction, and resiliency of the members of the community, both plant and animal. The goal is to reinitiate natural freshwater flow to coastal waters on both coasts of south Florida and reduce the frequency and severity of catastrophic flooding that harms the estuaries.

Oysters are included in this monitoring program as a target species because of their wide distribution, historical context, and essential habitat value. Oysters are an excellent indicator species for monitoring water quality changes in estuarine ecosystems as they are a dominant species in Florida estuaries and are a sedentary organism, meaning in times of extreme water quality changes they can’t leave! Because of this we can generate cause-and-effect relationships between the environment and oyster health.

Since 2005, FWRI biologists have been conducting monthly sampling trips to the St. Lucie Estuary, Loxahatchee River Estuary, and Lake Worth Lagoon. Funding has been provided by both the South Florida Water Management District and Palm Beach County. In 2017 the Caloosahatchee River Estuary was added as a monitoring site, after formerly being monitored by Florida Gulf Coast University.