Saltwater wonderland

NORWALK — The fish at the Norwalk Catholic School are pretty and calming, but they also serve another function: education. Starting with a simple donation about 20 years ago, reef aquariums started popping up around the district, according to head of maintenance Scott Lee. Lee, who's had a passion for saltwater marine life since childhood, made the donation to the classroom of then-biology teacher Mike Wasiniak. Lee made the donation because he was pleased with the instruction his daughter was receiving in the district. "I built a tank from scratch," he said, adding he used years of experience to put together a tank filled with saltwater, coral, live rock, invertebrate marine animals and fish. The 100-gallon tank was dissembled when the addition to St. Paul High School was built, and Lee replaced it with another, larger tank, after Wasiniak said, "Why don't we go bigger?" "We ordered a custom-made tank," Lee said, adding that he then had to build a custom stand for the 280-gallon aquarium. "It took six of us to carry it." Wasiniak wanted to expand the number of tanks, said Lee, so he came up with ones that were accessible to younger students. "We called them 'touch tanks.'" he said, explaining they allowed the children to touch starfish, hermit crabs and a sea cucumber. "It was exciting for the little kids to touch something." The excitement caught fire, fueling eventual changes to the district's curriculum to include classes in marine biology. "Marine biology is being offered again next fall," said current biology teacher Sarah Kovarik. She noted a full-year course is offered every other year. She said the class includes six dissections, the most popular of which is the dogfish shark. Also dissected are squid, mussels and starfish. "The students are really into it," the teacher said. "Every day is interesting. You never know what's going to happen. It's fun because the kids come in excited." "Everybody at the schools love them and want the aquariums to go on forever," Lee said. "We've had students take an interest in these aquariums and have helped with them over the years. A lot of people have helped and donated with these." Even Lee himself has donated several sea creatures, including a green moray eel he found in the Key West. Lee has a license to bring back marine animals from the Keys. Lee and Kovarik detailed that the district's aquariums have seen a diverse range of animals. They have included an octopus, which gave birth to several babies, clown fish, sharks and a pregnant jellyfish that gave birth to 12 babies. Presently, there is a live catfish shark embryo waiting to be born and a number of seahorses. Kovarik said there is also a lobster in the high school tank that has molted its exoskeleton six times. "He's brilliant blue; a beautiful little guy," she said. "I currently have a senior who has been in marine biology in the past." Joseph Jordan bought and brought in his own snowflake eel, which he has raised, and now hand-feeds each day. A 2019 St. Paul graduate, Jasmine Cervantes, learned to graft and replant coral, Kovarik said. Lee said that fascination with marine biology brings students into a whole world of scientific studies, including not only biology, but chemistry and physics. The life forms in reef aquariums, from fish to invertebrates, to microbes, are dependent on a range of factors, including water quality, water movement and the amount, intensity and wavelength of light, he explained. The love of sea animals has also bitten a kindergarten student, Nathan Hite, according to Gail Reynolds, director of the Norwalk Catholic School Early Childhood Development Center. The kindergartner is enthralled by the reef aquarium there and knows a staggering amount about the subject of marine biology, she said. Reynolds said the student is often found with his nose pressed to the glass, contemplating the creatures inside. "It began with him," said Kim Hite, Nathan's mother, noting the 6-year-old's interest was spurred from within. "He was able to tell you so much about the ocean since he was about 4." Nathan's grasp of vocabulary and facts surrounding the subject is surprising, she said. "One day he was telling me about tsunamis and super tsunamis," she said. "It's amazing. I'm not sure where it'll take him, but it's wonderful to see he's so intense about it." When he talks about the sea, Nathan gets tremendously excited, to the point that his hands begin to shake. "I giggle," she said. "Mister Lee actually gave him a piece of coral. I stepped on it," she laughed. "It didn't feel very good. I thought it was a piece of plastic."