Students from the fifth and seventh grades at L.B. Morris Elementary School in Jim Thorpe had a fun break from their usual classes recently. They headed over to the Jim Thorpe Sportsmens Club to set free the last 40 fish they had been taking care of since they were just eggs.

The classes were part of the Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom program, a partnership between the Germantown Grove Club, the Jim Thorpe Sportsmen’s Club, and L.B. Morris School.

The program was developed between the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

The Germantown Grove Club provided the supplies to the school for the students to raise the trout.

“Dakota McGonigal started the program and donated the tank that they use today,” said Joe Shigo of the Germantown Grove Club. “We provided the rest of the equipment they needed: aerators, lights, food and, of course, the fish.”

Seventh-grade teacher Pam McElmoyle led the program at LB Morris and helped coordinate the release and the program afterwards at the Jim Thorpe Sportsmen’s Club. They raised a total of 73 fish to be released. An equipment malfunction resulted in the loss of about 30 additional fish.

The school held an early-release day of 33 fish on April 29.

“We had about 75 to 80 fish in the tank; that’s a lot of fish in a small area,” McElmoyle said. “We wanted to let some go earlier in order for the others to get a little stronger.”

On Tuesday, students were given a red cup with a fish in it to release near the dam in the Mauch Chunk Creek along Flagstaff Road.

The seventh-grade class released half of them, the fifth-grade class released the rest.

“The students did a great job at the release,” McElmoyle said. “They did a tremendous job raising the fish.”

After releasing the fish, the students and staff went to the Jim Thorpe Sportsmen’s Club where class members gave presentations of the work they did during the program. Students were treated to hot dogs and snacks.