Marina Howarth, science and education coordinator

Marina Howarth was fated by nature and nurture to link with Discover Cayuga Lake (DCL). Brought up around water since birth, Marina learned about nitrogen cycling as a young girl, as her mother, Roxanne Marino, was busy nearby completing her doctorate in biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology as preparation for her career within Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Marina’s father, Robert Howarth, renowned oceanographer and environmental activist, is a professor of ecology and biogeochemistry at Cornell University.

“I’ve loved the natural world I grew up in,” Marina said.

At 15, she began interning summers with the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom. In those days, Bill Foster’s program used The Haendel, a small boat shared with Ithaca Boat Tours.

“I loved working on the boat, learning and sharing what I learned with families who came on board,” Marina said. “Ulysses/Trumansburg Youth Services generously provides stipends to interns, a continuing program [that] I helped to set up in my second summer with the Floating Classroom.”

The Floating Classroom program has been a part of Cayuga Lake summers and a field trip staple for schools around the watershed from May through October. The Floating Classroom has been collecting lake data since 2005. It even continued through this pandemic and was on the water from July through October.

“Getting the boat on the water was no small feat,” Marina said. “Everyone worked together to come up with increased cleaning and safety procedures, social distancing measures, with the boat capped at 22 passengers.”

Marina notes that all hands were on deck to continue safely offering outdoor activities to the community this summer, a key part of the Discover Cayuga Lake mission.

In 2017, volunteers of the Floating Classroom Advisory Board searched high and low to find the Floating Classroom’s current boat, the Passenger Vessel Teal, and, in October 2017, piloted it through the Erie Canal lock system from New York City.

With the PV Teal, the Floating Classroom was able to expand to boat tours and launch the nonprofit umbrella organization, Discover Cayuga Lake, Inc. Paying off its new boat was a three-year endeavor to raise $200,000, which Marina proudly said was paid off at the beginning of 2020.

In 2019, Bill and Marina developed an ever-changing curriculum involving and partnering with teams from New York Sea Grant, Trout Unlimited, Community Science Institute and Cayuga Lake Watershed Network. Bill estimated that some 2,400 students from 10 school districts within the Cayuga Lake watershed and five school districts outside savored learning on the water in 2019.

Marina and Bill have presented their Floating Classroom curriculum in camp settings and afterschool programs, inviting the Learning Web, Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Southside Community Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension 4-H and Rural Youth Services, and other groups on board.

“Our 2020 Explore the Waterfront program is a partnership with the Sciencenter, Ithaca Children’s Garden and Paddle-N-More,” Marina said. “We came together to create a series of free, outdoor and socially distanced programs to engage local families and encourage environmental stewardship through hands-on education.”

Marina said that she and Astrid Jirka, Discover Cayuga Lake marketing director, also arranged free cruise options solely for Discover Cayuga Lake — including an afterschool cruise option for high school students and an evening community cruise with local presenters on Wednesday nights — so the ability to pay would not be a barrier.

Teachers and parents have commented that even the most uncontainable kids, bouncing around in their classrooms and at home, focus and calm down when Trout in the Classroom and Floating Classroom programs get going.

“Kids thrive with the hands-on curriculum, and even when it is provided virtually, the ownership students develop for their lake and their fish is dynamic,” Marina said. “Kids observe and interact with their fish, releasing them into streams and the food sources in the new environment, the change in the pH and temperature of the classroom and stream water.”

In the classrooms, kids learn about monitoring for water quality, feeding and caring for their fish, Marina said. Kids also watch their fish grow and develop.

“And on the boat, they connect water quality, equipment and data collection [by] sampling plankton and plants to get a glimpse of the environment beneath the waves,” Marina said.

Marina estimates that since its origins, Discover Cayuga Lake with the Floating Classroom and Trout in the Classroom has engaged over 20,000 students, not counting volunteers, and other community members.

“I knew early on I wanted to do pollution and climate-solution-oriented work, combined with education like Discover Cayuga Lake does,” Marina said. “When we love our environment, we are moved to be advocates and protectors of the natural world. Wherever I go in life, I will be an ardent advocate for protecting our environment.”

And for now, Marina observes that the Floating Classroom and Trout in the Classroom programs are very popular with students, but future funding is insecure. With sufficient funding, these lively, hands-on programs can remain available, offering fun while engaging with our environment and its fascinating occupants.

Funding also enables older students to receive stipend-supported internships while working on the PV Teal. Discover Cayuga Lake is now reaching out to community-oriented businesses that might be interested in sponsoring their programs, like GreenStar, who generously provided financial support for DCL, the Sciencenter and Ithaca Children’s Garden’s Explore the Waterfront tours and activities.

Marina estimates that folks buying Lake Lovers Season Passes and tickets for sunset cruises or narrated tours on Discover Cayuga Lake’s boat make it possible for some 1,500 to 3,000 students to enjoy the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom each year, and more than that with charters.

As we continue through 2021, make plans for safe, festive outdoor boat cruises on our beloved Cayuga Lake. Your admission ticket will bring our students, our future leaders, on board.

To learn more, volunteer or send a contribution:

Marina Howarth, Scieducation.dcl@gmail.com

Bill Foster, director of Discover Cayuga Lake, floatingclassroom@gmail.com

Astrid Jirka, tourism and marketing director of Discover Cayuga Lake, discovercayuga@gmail.com