Pauline Johnson Collegiate Students get Hooked on Raising Trout in School's Science Lab

Article content originally published in The Expositor on May 22, 2026 by Michelle Ruby

_{Pauline Johnson Collegiate Grade 9 students Madison Mitchell, Jaida Powless and Peyton Lenoir helped raise rainbow trout in a cold-water hatchery in their science lab. The project, done in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, involves students caring for and then releasing the fish at a stage when they are more likely to survive independently. Photo by Michelle Ruby /The Expositor}

A group of Pauline Johnson Collegiate students helped several hundred trout go from classroom to creek as part of a program to restock the local fish population. 

The Brantford school has been working with the Ministry of Natural Resources for at least two decades fostering trout eggs and releasing the fish in local waterways at a stage when they are more likely to survive. 

Madison Mitchell, Peyton Lenoir and Jaida Powless, all Grade 9 students in teacher Melanie Kraemer’s science class at PJ and members of the school’s Leadership Enrichment Program, took on this year’s project. 

Read the full news article.