ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ - Mother Teresa Regional School, Atlantic Highlands, has some new members in its community.  The students in the school’s science elective program are raising chicks.  The eggs arrived last Monday from Quiver Farms in Pennsylvania.  Each day, students were responsible for turning the eggs and filling the incubator with water until Friday of last week. Then it was time to wait. 

While students had the day off on Monday, the chicks began to hatch.  Number 6 and number 12 were the first to be discovered when principal, Mrs. Melissa Whelan Wisk and seventh grade students, Olivia, Ericka, and Grace stopped by school.  “We were so excited to see the chicks but we were hoping to see number 2 and 3 hatch since they are our chicks for the elective” explained Grace.  Some of the chicks were videotaped while hatching and their hatching is posted on the school website. The chicks will remain at school until Friday when they will be picked up returned to life on the farm.

Students have enjoyed naming the chicks and will study their growth this week.  “Ying” was the first chick to hatch.  Number 11, named after Mark Herzlich, #58 on the Giants is the one that Mrs. Wisk and Mrs. Baeder were hoping to watch hatch.  “This is the first year that we were able to name a chick and be responsible for an egg so I was excited when I was at school Monday night when it hatched” according to Mrs. Wisk.  Students have learned how to teach their chicks to recognize food and water as they live the remainder of the week in the brooder box.   Each middle school science class will be keeping a journal about the chicks. 

Mrs. Baeder has enjoyed watching the chicks hatch and taking care of them with her students. “This is such a great project for our students. We have hatched chicks and quail and also raised rabbits in the last few years and each year students learn something different.”

For more information on the chicks or the school visit mtregional.com.  The video of the chicks is on the front page and Mrs. Baeder’s class page.