Young minds bloom at week-long science program
May 23, students at Bigelow Laboratory’s Keller BLOOM program capped off their week-long immersive experience with a public presentation. The event also christened Bigelow’s new Harold Alfond Center for Ocean Education and Innovation.
For the past 35 years, the Keller BLOOM program has offered Maine high school juniors a chance to spend a week as a marine scientist, completing fieldwork, laboratory analysis and data presentation. This year’s 16-person group had representatives from eight counties, including Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) junior Matthew Little.
The team’s focus was the Sheepscot River. Field day was spent taking samples of phytoplankton (microscopic plant-like organisms) from four stations along the water body, starting in Wiscasset and ending in Southport. Students then spent a day analyzing samples and breaking down the results into four mini-presentations: physical data and nutrients, bacterial and viral concentrations, and phytoplankton and zooplankton populations.
