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ally rescued and kept as a pet for more than a year. The animals in side Olson’s eco-column were not as lucky. Two of her three fish were dead within two weeks, and the third perished in less than a month.

“It wasn’t filtered water, and we couldn’t clean it that well, so obviously [they were] going to end up dying pretty quickly,” said Olson. “It really showed the fish’s lack of resilience within a small tank.”

The Biology eco-column project is required for all ninth-grade students at CHS. The course incorporates experiential learning as students work in teams to research, design and create closed ecosystems consisting of terrestrial and aquatic habitats and a compost unit.

According to Biology team teachers Daniel Stavis and Ken ji Mitchell, students can include small fish in their eco-col umns, but all other animals must be in vertebrates and primary consumers.

Typically, stu dent eco-col mal usage within the project.

“Everyone thought it was a pretty fun experience to bond with our teams and build everything, who earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from chemical analyses throughout the year, students can gain further ecological education while ensur ing all organisms involved remain in sufficient living conditions

Stanford University before joining the Bay Area non-profit in 2006.

BY SOHA ROY