Passaic River Institute Summer Program Helps Newark Students Learn About Hands-On Science

Newark junior high school students got a chance to experience hands-on science education in the Passaic River Institute’s (PRI) Environmental and Computer Summer Camp, held in August 2006. The PRI organized and carried out three sessions of a two-week summer program for rising 7th- and 8th-grade students. A total of 58 Newark students participated from George W. Carver School, Luis Muñoz Marin School, and Dr.William Horton School.

Newark Deputy Mayor of Community Relations Margarita Muniz and representatives from the Victoria Foundation, the Landsberger Foundation, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which funded the project, attended a session held in Newark’s Branch Brook Park on August 16, in which students learned how to sample water quality in the pond. BMW of North America also provided project funding.

The mission of the Passaic River Institute for Environmental Research and Education at Montclair State University is to further environmental research and education and to seek solutions for environmental problems within the Passaic River watershed. The PRI is part of the College of Science and Mathematics.