Minnesota New Country School is a school which believes hands-on learning in the community is the most effective way to learn. The frog project has provided students with numerous opportunities to do just that.

Minnesota Legislature: Students from the frog project testified on two different occasions at the Minnesota Legislature. They testified for a bill that would help to fund the deformed frog project. The money would go to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and to MNCS. The bill is still bouncing around. I'll try and keep this updated when it passes:)

Environmental Award: The Ney Frog Project won first place in the 6-8 grade category of the Anheuser-Busch Theme Parks, "A Pledge and a Promise Environmental Awards".Students traveled to Sea World in San Diego for the awards ceremony. The Ney Frog Project recieved an award of $12,500 which has been used to buy science equipment. Thanks to Jeff Fish for finding out about awards, Betsy for her work in entering the frog project into this contest, and of course to all the students for their hard work. Wish us good luck.

Career Explorations: As a result of this project, students have worked directly with scientists such as researchers, aquatic biologists, botanists, cell and genetic biologists, and hydrologists. They have also worked with news reporters, photographers, television technicians and television engineers. More recently, students met several state legislators. Several students took the opportunity to interview these professionals about their careers.

Communications: Much of this project has required students to do public speaking for the media, as well as presentations for the State Legislature and a workshop for science teachers. Writing has also been important. Students have learned that they need to accurately document data collected during the project. They have also been asked to write news articles for various publications such as Earth Focus magazine and the SNAP (School Nature Area Project) newsletter. Even the development of this home page has required closer attention to writing skills. Much of the communication during the project has been through e-mail. Students set up a special e-mail address just to receive all of the messages which have been sent to our school because of this project ((link disabled)). They are responsible for reading and responding to all mail received at this address.

Sciences: ( Will add more later)