For more than three decades, a high school marine sciences program has been making waves—in the middle of Iowa, a landlocked state more than 1,200 miles from the nearest ocean.
Hundreds of students have passed through the program in the Des Moines district, designed to introduce students to potential careers in aquarium science, marine biology, and related fields through its use of more than 150 different aquariums ranging in size from two to 2,400 gallons. The aquariums are home to about 150 different species—coral farms and clown fish, sting rays, octopuses, and more—all cared for and maintained almost exclusively by students who receive college course credit and, in some cases, scuba diving certifications, for their work.
“It’s definitely a unique experience,” said Gregory Barord, one of the program’s instructors.
Preparing Students for What’s Next
The pathways to college, internships, and work have changed. What does that mean for secondary education? Explore the series.
It’s a particularly noteworthy program, especially given its location, as districts grapple with growing pressure to prepare students for both college and to enter the workforce, and to provide them with meaningful experiences in the process. Students say they want more education aimed at exposing them to potential careers, saying it helps them learn about job possibilities they didn’t know about previously and informs their post-high school plans.
But such specialized programs can be tough to pull off, especially when paired with teacher shortages, most notably in specialized subjects and career-prep tracks. In fact, 28 percent of school and district leaders said in a recent EdWeek Research Center survey that marine science is a STEM specialty subject they’d like to offer but can’t because they doubt they’d be able to find teachers for it. Marine science ranked third, behind cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
The Des Moines school system found Barord by chance—a lucky connection made at a conference a decade ago. Barord was in graduate school then, and now is a well-established marine biologist by trade, who has discovered a new species of aquatic animal and spends his summers conducting research throughout the Pacific Ocean.
But from August to May, he’s working with Des Moines students, hoping to usher in the next generation of marine biologists. Or, at the very least, inspire a curiosity and appreciation for the ocean and its creatures.
“I’ve always wanted to get students involved in research at this age, because growing up, I hated science and I hated research,” Barord said. “But that’s obviously changed and I want to show the kids that it can be fun and it can be an option for them, too.”
Participating students are interested in related careers, or are simply curious
The program has come a long way over the past three decades. It started as one might imagine—a few fish tanks on a bookshelf. Now, an entire facility in the district is dedicated to the program. Instead of manually mixing salt and water in a bucket to maintain the proper levels in the tanks, all the student caretakers have to do is open a valve connected to the tanks to automatically fill the saltwater to the correct levels. On average, about 150 students annually participate in the program, which is broken up into two yearlong courses—marine biology and aquarium science.
“The students aren’t all necessarily interested in careers in the field. They might be interested in just the ocean or maybe just taking a different class,” Barord said. “So, the background, skill level, and interest ranges from nothing to, ‘I want to be a marine biologist for my career.’”
And sometimes those interest levels change over time.
Senior Addison Stone originally thought she wanted to study psychology in college, but her perspective has completely shifted after spending three years in the program. She became so invested that she does volunteer work for the lab in the summers and during holiday breaks, and even convinced her parents to let her have a (much smaller) fish tank at home.
Now, she wants to study marine biology in college and pursue a career in the field.
“The more time that I spent in the lab, the more time that I worked and learned everything, I just knew that I couldn’t do anything else,” Stone said. “I’m not quite sure where I’m going yet with this, but I know that I want to stick within the community of marine biology.”
Every day in the marine science program is full of opportunities
No two days are the same in the aquarium science program, because students are dealing with live animals who may become sick, die, or need special attention. On one summer day in late August, for example, a summer intern arrived for his four-hour shift and found two deceased fish, Barord said.
The group had noticed a parasitic outbreak in the preceding days and had to do special observations and monitoring of all the other fish in that tank to ensure it didn’t get out of hand. They also had to take special care to ensure they were washing their hands routinely and avoiding cross-contamination with other tanks as they prepared food and performed other care routines.
In situations where a fish is sick (or several), a local volunteer veterinarian comes in to do examinations and provide care, all while including students in the process.
When they’re not tending to the animals, some students also conduct research that, in some cases, are published in academic journals or elsewhere.
“To leave high school with a publication on your record is pretty rare, but a good opportunity for them,” Barord said.
Vianne Stroope-West, a junior, recently completed one of those research projects. She conditioned a lionfish to move to a “target” within the tank for feeding. The target was within a small bucket, and the goal was to make being in the bucket less stressful for the fish—important for when it has to be put inside one while staff clean the tank or transport it elsewhere.
“For me, my favorite things are the projects I get to work on, because that’s the kind of thing that can make a difference for the fish,” Stroope-West said. “The less stressed the lionfish is, the safer those activities are.”
Students get hands-on experience on annual expeditions
Barord and his class routinely host experts in the field either in person or on Zoom for talks and mentorship sessions.
The marquee event, though, is the annual “field studies expedition,” a weeklong trip to a location near an actual ocean—like Texas or Florida—where students get hands-on experience with researchers and other professionals. The 30 to 40 students who go attend seminars, visit universities and labs, and work with conservation groups to care for and learn about local species.
In April, the group will travel to Fiji—the program’s first international trip.
“It’s hard to really explain the value of the field studies expeditions,” Barord said, “but just getting to make those connections really means the world to these kids.”
