A group of Bonny Eagle Middle School seventh grade students visited Sebago Lake in the middle of March with Maine Guide Rex Turner and chaperones Connie Regula, Mark Andreasen, Jeff Myrick, Donna Bilodeau and David Swan.

The trip was sponsored by the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute, which is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to understanding, protecting and sustaining the health and values of Maine’s lakes and the communities dependent upon them.

Bonny Eagle Middle School is one of 12 Maine Schools of the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute. Bonny Eagle is Maine’s largest middle school and is close to Sebago Lake, the state’s deepest and second largest lake in terms of area. The history, heritage and geography are forever linked to Sebago and other lakes and ponds. The lake is a part of the students’ everyday lives, especially since it’s where the area’s drinking flows from.

Seventh grade teacher Mark Norton interviewed some of the students after their ice fishing trip to the lake.

“What exactly did you do on the lake?” he asked:

“We learned about Sebago Lake and how the people of the Greater Portland area depend on it for their drinking water. We tested how clean the water is. We also set up our ice fishing traps,” said Dylan Gammon, Corey Hanson and Jeff Myrick.

“I learned about ice fishing, how to ice fish and native fish to the lake,” said Jesssica Avery.

“The first thing I did was to look through the binocular thing down in the lake at the water. After that we played a game. It was that you had to put the native fish from here on a stick. We also cooked hot dogs,” said Brooke VanRosendael.

“We tested the water depth. We also did some ice fishing. We each got our own trap,” said Alicia Hoyt.

“What did you learn?” Andreason asked.

“I learned that there are a lot of non-native Maine fish in Sebago Lake,” said Alicia Hoyt.

“We learned that the ice could hold several trucks. We learned about the history of fish in Sebago Lake and various water regulations,” said Riley Heroux.

“I learned that Sebago is a water port, and it is a very healthy lake. We get water to drink from this lake,” said Brooke VanRosendael.

“What did you enjoy most about the day?” Andreason next asked.

“Eating our lunch on the bus because it was so cold outside,” said Emma Goff.

“I enjoyed taking the actual time to ice fish, even though I didn’t catch any fish. It was really fun,” said Jessica Avery.

“I enjoyed trying something new, and having fun with my friends. My friend and I were in charge of taking pictures and videos. I liked looking down to the bottom of the water, too,” said Riley Heroux.

“Being out in the fresh air and seeing birds flying around,” said Dylan Gammon.