A classroom runs through it: Vermillion teaches students, stewardship

Listen Story audio 4min 35sec

Sunrise is still half an hour away as biology teacher Joe Beattie and his students bushwhack their way down to the banks of the Vermillion River in Dakota County. They wear chest-high waders and arm-length rubber gloves to ward off the numbing effects of the river's 50 degree water.

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Beattie has brought his Hastings High School junior and senior biology students to the same spot each year since 1997. They've collected thousands of samples, taken them back to school for identification and turned the results over to county and watershed officials who monitor the Vermillion's health.

The students wading into the river on this day are the next generation working to save the Vermillion. The hands-on research delivers lessons about pollution, society and the environment that can't be taught in a regular classroom.

Play the audio above or view the photographs below to spend the morning on the river with Beattie and his students.

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A classroom runs through it: Vermillion teaches students, stewardship