San Miguel Students Engage in Local Mussel Restoration Project

San Miguel School students in the sixth and eighth grade will take part in a local project to help restore two species of freshwater mussels in the Anacostia River.

On Friday, April 1, a staff member from the Anacostia Watershed Society spoke to the sixth and eighth grade science classes to launch the project at San Miguel. She explained the current state of pollution in the watershed and the importance of preserving and restoring it. She also taught the students about the life cycles of the mussels they would receive and how to care for them. 

Students received juvenile mussels, which they will raise in their classrooms. Students will feed the mussels, maintain appropriate conditions in their tanks and track their growth.

San Miguel science teachers shared that the students were enthusiastic about the project. 

“They’re so excited,” noted Edwin Luna, the eighth grade science teacher who brought the project to San Miguel. “They all want to feed the mussels and sit by them.”

The project will conclude in May when students will release the mussels into the Anacostia River at Bladensburg Waterfront Park where, as filter feeders, they will help clean the river.