PHOTOS: Medford Students Release Turtles to Wild

MEDFORD, MA - On Wednesday, June 14, Medford High School students and their science teachers Jodie Driscoll and Ivy Carnabucci traveled to the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge in Maynard, Massachusetts to release four Blanding’s turtles.

The students and their teachers spent the last seven months raising the turtles in their classrooms. In order to participate in this project, Medford High School teachers used a 2014 Massachusetts state science and engineering first prize won by 2014 Medford High School alumna Erica Budina, donated by the Genzyme Corporation, a release said.

The effort is part of a much larger project in which students across the region raise Blanding’s turtles to a size that allows for a higher chance of survival in the wild, a release said. The teachers were partnered with Grassroots Wildlife Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out this important work in conservation biology, a release said.

Photos courtesy of MHS student Keriann Loutraris.