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Making Oyster Reef Balls for the Chesapeake Bay

As part of the seventh grade study of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, on Wednesday and Thursday, April 22 and 23, students participated in a hands-on oyster reef ball build in celebration of Earth Day.

In partnership with the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland, students worked together to build oyster reef balls: concrete structures that provide a safe surface for oyster spat (babies) to attach and grow. These reef balls will ultimately be placed in local waterways, where they will help restore oyster populations, improve water quality, and create habitats for other marine life.

During the build days, students:

—Learned directly from conservation experts about oyster restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay
—Collaborated in teams to mix and pour concrete into reef ball molds (day 1)
—Broke open the molds to reveal their hard work (day 2—thank you to Upper School engineering students for their help!)
—Reflected on the impact of their work as environmental stewards

This experience is rooted in two of McDonogh's Signature Programs: Greatest Good McDonogh and 800-Acre Labs. By partnering with a local nonprofit to apply curiosity, creativity, and service to address a real community issue, students realize the mission of Greatest Good McDonogh. The environmental literacy that students cultivated this school year, expressed through this collective effort in environmental conservation, is one of the bedrocks of 800-Acre Labs. 

By contributing to oyster restoration, students are not only deepening their understanding of complex ecological systems, but they are also seeing how their efforts can have a lasting, tangible impact on the health of our local environment…a true McDonogh experience.