Belleville, NY, June 28, 2023 — A once-in-a-lifetime boat ride.

Barbara Bibbins teaches 8th grade and Regents science at the Belleville-Henderson Central School District, and although the school year is over, lessons aren’t over yet.

As WWTI TV / ABC50 NOW's Isabella Colello reports, Bibbins was chosen for the 2023 Lake Ontario Shipboard Science Workshop aboard the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office Research Vessel Lake Guardian.

This is a professional development workshop hosted by New York Sea Grant on Lake Ontario. Bibbins was one of only 15 teachers chosen to work aboard the vessel.

“So for me personally, I just love to learn,” Bibbins shared. “So this is just an opportunity for me to get back into the academic part of research and that type of thing.”

The team will board the ship on July 6 and work until July 12. During the week, they will work alongside scientists to conduct research on cyanobacteria, macro invertebrates, benthic organisms and water quality.

Teachers will also be guided through new lesson planning. For Bibbins, this is specifically important for her students at Belleville-Henderson is less than five miles from Lake Ontario.

“We live here, so they’re living very close to or on the Lake,” she expressed. “They’re going to see these organisms that we’re talking about. They may be affected by Harmful Algal Blooms or that kind of thing.”

She said she hopes that her experience will help her to further inspire her students in the years to come.

“Just get the kids connected so that they can then maybe take that out as they get older and get curious about the world around them,” Bibbins stated.

For more on the 2023 Shipboard Science Workshop, see NYSG's website: bit.ly/nysglakeguardian2023.

For more on the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office Research Vessel Lake Guardian, see EPA’s website:www.epa.gov/great-lakes-monitoring/lake-guardian.

WWTI is a television station in Watertown, NY, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus.