Students get second chance

MYSTIC, Conn. - This chemistry lesson takes a strong stomach: It starts with grinding up fish in a big blender.

At first, 15-year-old Sarah Lenney was nervous. Her partner, 17-year-old Stephen Furlong, says it is something he never thought he would do in school. But they break into devilish grins as they explain their work.

"It was kind of gross yesterday, because we had to touch it with our hands," Stephen says with a laugh, pointing to containers filled with chloroform-scented fish parts.

Instead of a traditional classroom setting, high school students participating in an alternative program at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration are getting a hands-on learning experience alongside beluga whales, seals and other marine life.

Though other alternative programs exist in Connecticut, many are aimed at students with behavioral problems or are already full.

Not so at Mystic. The WAVES program -- which stands for Wheeler's Aquarium Vocational Experience for Students -- tailors its course work to give students a second chance at success.

The participants -- eight students from the Stonington, North Stonington and Preston school districts -- don't have behavior problems, but have not been able to grasp reading, writing and arithmetic. Most are substantially behind in credits. Before coming to Mystic, some were at risk of dropping out.

"I call them my square pegs in a round hole," said Natalie Pukas, superintendent of North Stonington schools, which operates the program. "They are the kids that have the ability to succeed, they have the talent to succeed. But somewhere, they've lost the will and the motivation, or we failed to meet their needs."

Afternoons are spent at the aquarium, where students work as staff interns in the aquarium's departments for animal care, public education, food service, human resources and lab research. They also move through online distance-learning courses at their own pace.

"We tell them they are the captains of their own ship," said teacher Cheryl Biekert, who runs the program. "They really are in charge of their destiny here."