Trout in the Classroom Update
How Five Chapters and 442 Egg Shipments Connected 57,000 Students to Coldwater Conservation
2/19/20262 min read
This winter, something remarkable happened at the PA Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) Center Region Office in Bellefonte.
Volunteers from five PATU chapters spent two January days packaging 1,326 bags of trout food and 442 egg shipment boxes—enough to serve 430 teachers running aquariums in 60 Pennsylvania counties.
By the time those trout are released this spring, 57,000 students will have received hands-on education about watersheds, habitat, and conservation.
That's the power of partnership—and you made it happen.
The Power of Showing Up
On January 7, members from Columbia County, Donegal, Forbes Trail, Penns Creek, and Spring Creek chapters gathered at the hatchery. Together with PFBC staff, they prepared 1,326 food bags and set up for the main event.
Five days later, an even larger group assembled: volunteers from Donegal, Forbes Trail, Penns Creek, Penns Woods West, and Spring Creek chapters joined by PFBC staff, teachers, staff from Senator Cris Dush and Senator Scott Martin's offices, members of the Lackawanna County Conservation District, and several TIC educators.
Their mission: package 442 egg boxes for shipment to classrooms across Pennsylvania.
Why does this matter? Because programs like Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom (PATIC) don't run on autopilot—they run on volunteers who donate their time to connect the next generation to the resources we're fighting to protect.
To every volunteer who participated: You are the heart and soul of this program. Thank you.
PATIC Reaches New Heights: 60 of 67 Counties Now Participating
The 2025-26 school year brought PATIC to its largest reach yet:
430 participating educators running 442 aquariums
442 egg shipments delivered January 12, 2026
60 of 67 Pennsylvania counties now participate in TIC (Only seven counties left to reach—is yours ready to expand?)
322 of 430 educators (75%) partnered with program supporters like PATU chapters, conservation districts, conservancies, and sportsman associations
40 of 49 PATU chapters now partner with TIC programs
Does Your Chapter Partner with TIC Educators?
Forty of 49 PATU chapters currently support PATIC programs—is yours one of them?
Partnership opportunities include:
Supporting local teachers with equipment or expertise
Attending classroom release events in spring
Sponsoring aquarium equipment
Learn how to get involved:
Contact Amidea Daniel, PFBC TIC Coordinator
ra-troutclass@pa.gov
2024-25 PATIC: The Impact in Numbers
When 410 teachers completed their end-of-year reports last spring, here's what they told us:
57,012 students engaged in TIC activities
That's equal to filling Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia 1.5 times—or roughly one out of every 33 school-age children in Pennsylvania.
12,556 hours of watershed and habitat instruction
Students learned about watersheds, trout habitat, fish management, life cycle stages, and fishing. That's more than an entire school year of instruction, delivered across hundreds of classrooms.
9,174 volunteer hours donated
Worth approximately $287,000 at Pennsylvania's volunteer labor rate of $31.25/hour. This represents the real economic value your chapters contributed to Pennsylvania's youth education.
1,065 conservation projects and activities completed
That's nearly three projects every single day of the school year—stream cleanups, habitat assessments, water quality monitoring, and more.