Field Notes

Over 23,000 students in Kosciusko County have had an aquarium in their school classroom or library. Claire Sprankle was not one of them. But, the classroom across the hall from her sixth-grade room had a Lilly Center aquarium. She noticed college students, who she remembers as being “old,” visiting that classroom regularly to clean the aquarium.

As Claire grew older, she became more serious about her interests in the outdoors, animals, and photography. She invested her years at Warsaw High School by taking ecology and biology classes so she could one day study zoology or pre-veterinary medicine. Inspired by photographers like Joel Sartore, a National Geographic photographer, she took as many photography classes as possible, including an independent study. Her dream? To one day become a National Geographic photographer herself.

Choosing a college to attend was not a straightforward decision. Claire knew she wanted to stay near her family, but that meant modifying her idea to study zoology. Claire remembered the aquarium across the hall and investigated further. Once she knew that the Lilly Center was part of Grace College, she was hooked and enrolled as a freshman in 2024.

Claire jumped into college life with both feet and chose to study environmental science and minor in photography. Her first class was general ecology, taught by Lilly Center director Dr. Nate Bosch. Within days of moving into her dorm room, she also applied and was hired to work on the Lilly Center’s aquarium team. Her teammates trained her to properly clean aquariums and care for the native fish that call it home.

“It’s really weird to me that I’m going to be that “old” person coming into the classrooms and cleaning aquariums,” Claire said. “It’s crazy to me that I get to interact with students at my old school thanks to an aquarium.”

The Lilly Center’s aquarium program is an extension of its education programs. The aquarium team installs up to 40 aquariums in classrooms, school libraries, and community spaces each year. These beautiful installations serve as a focal point for Indiana standards-based lessons taught by classroom teachers, Lilly Center interns, or Grace College School of Education students.

The Lilly Center’s aquarium program has grown in response to feedback from teachers and students. While Classroom Lake Experience (the program in Claire’s elementary school) still exists, Lake in the Library provides scientific lake lessons to every student in the school. Now, everyone can participate in award-winning, hands-on activities that help students of all ages know how to make their lakes and streams clean and healthy.

Working at the Lilly Center prepares Claire and the 45 other college interns on staff for their future environmental careers through resume-building experiences. Many graduated students choose to stay in northern Indiana.

Thanks to Steel Dynamics Foundation, Wayne Kubek, Frank & Becky Levinson Charitable Fund, and Dick Teets, Jr., for their support in 2024 to attract and retain top student talent at the Lilly Center.