Walk into room 219 during any passing period and you would see multiple students gathered around the tank that is seated near the whiteboard. You would find heads peeking to catch a glimpse of the small creatures in the aquarium, their cute faces bring lots of smiles every hour.  

Our school houses two turtles, Chad and Franklin. Chemistry teacher Brittney Moore speaks about how the aquarium has benefited the classroom. 

“When class starts, you can see a horde of students around the turtles, the students interact with them the most by having the turtles follow their fingers on the glass,” Ms. Moore said. “The kids love the aquarium and they like to go say hi to them. I think it really improves morale and just kids get really excited about them doing anything.”

All of this is thanks to junior Elizabeth Kreifels, she is the face behind Chad and Franklin. The turtles were originally in the hands of a ‘23 graduate but they were passed down to Kreifels. They were originally stored in Mrs. Staback’s room and then found their way to Ms. Moore. Although the turtles are housed in Ms. Moore’s room, Kreifels does all of the work to keep them alive and well. Kreifels describes what a typical day is like keeping up with the aquarium and the turtles. 

 “I go in there almost every day during my T.A hour and I clean them and test their water to make sure all their levels are good. I usually have to fill up their water, half a bucket, every three days just because it gets low from the heat lamp on,” Kriefels said, “I also turn their heat lamp off every day before I leave school.”

 Along with the everyday tasks, there are the more difficult ones that are done less frequently. Kreifels explains how she takes apart the aquarium every other week to keep it clean for the turtles.  

“I take the turtles out of their cage, put them in a bucket and [have them] go hang out and play with each other [while I take] a siphon tool that takes all the water out of their tank. I dump all the dirty water out and then I refill it with new warm water [and then] I take all the rocks out of the bottom and soak those in soapy water and wash them and put them back in.”

All of this work seems like a lot, but Kreifels sees it as therapeutic and not a big deal. 

“It’s nice to be able to interact with them and take care of them because to me taking care of them is super easy and [it’s] something [that] distracts me from the rest of the busy school day.”