Middle School, High School, and College Students
CSCR provides middle school and high school students with authentic, real world learning and research experiences that are unique to our region, and sparsely available to students throughout our nation.
College students also have a unique opportunity to work with us as Cohasset Wharf Interns. application.
3 Pathways for High School Academic Recognition
- The 54 Hour Portfolio
- the State of the Harbor public presenation
- the STREAM to Sanctuary Certificate of Watershed Stewardship
The 54 hour portfolio
In 2022, CSCR and 6 area high schools began collaboration on a NOAA grant to “bridge” school with summer research in the local watershed. As a result, CSCR and partner schools are forging several pathways for students to earn high school academic recognition. One pathway is the “54 hour portfolio.” It is a template or guideline that students use to assemble a portfolio of learning that is shared with the student’s high school academic leaders. We call it the 54 hour portfolio because 54 hours is the time goal we ask students to reach during a summer of portfolio, the time equivalent of one class of science during one quarter of the school year (in a typical block schedule). We offer this guide for students to follow as they build evidence showing what they learned, experienced, and accomplished during their summer of Varsity Research. Click to access the guide.
State of the Harbor
The State of the Harbor is CSCR’s Signature Community Outreach and Education Event — where our students shine and the community learns. Essentially, it’s a public presentation of the team’s version of the 54 hour portfolio.
Each spring, student research teams present their findings to the community and stakeholders. In 2020, we moved our State of the Harbor event to Zoom, but we came back “live” on May 18, 2022.
You can read about our 2022 State of the Harbor event in this Patriot Ledger article.
Watch our recorded 2021 State of the Harbor Event and our 2020 State of the Harbor Event.
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Recognition
Additionally, CSCR has collaborated with Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to create a STREAM to Sanctuary Certificate of Watershed Stewardship. STREAM communicates the importance of STEM (science, echnology, engineering, and math; plus arts and reading). But STREAMs are also an important part of our watersheds, for the water that enters into our streams finds its way out to the Sanctuary. Earning a “stream to sanctuary” certificate, therefore, implies that students understand the connection between the fresh water systems that quench our thirst and the open ocean that sustains life on the planet.
Click here to access information about how to earn this prestigious certificate.
Above: Ben Haskell, Deputy Supt of SBNMS (left), poses with “Stream to Sanctuary” Watershed Stewards, CSCR class of 2022. Anne Smrcina, SBNMS Education and Outreach Coordinator, facilitates collaboration with CSCR and makes it possible for students to earn this prestigious recognition. Below: Students responding to probing questions from Ben Haskell.
Above: Photo by Jack Buckley, expedition aboard R/V Auk
