Photo by Deb Gau Lynd Public School student Cash Heemeyer carefully lowers a container of trout fry into Brawner Lake on Monday.

What started as a classroom project ended with the release of about 100 trout fry into Brawner Lake, which is located inside Camden State Park.

On Monday afternoon, Lynd Public School seventh and eighth grade students carried a cooler filled with water and minnow-sized fish down to the edge of the lake, near the boat landing.

After adding some lake water to the cooler to get the trout fry acclimated to its temperature, students took turns gently scooping the fish into a container and lowering them into the lake.

The students had been learning about trout and their environment over the winter through Trout Unlimited’s Trout in the Classroom program. The program helped provide Lynd School with the aquarium equipment needed to try and raise trout from eggs.

Students were responsible for caring for the trout fry and keeping their water quality healthy, teacher Martin Boucek said. About one-third of the trout eggs hatched, and almost all of those fry made it to spring, he said.

Boucek said the school obtained a permit from the Minnesota DNR to release the trout fry at Brawner Lake. Earlier, the lake had been stocked with about 500 adult brown trout ahead of the Minnesota trout opener.

Students’ learning didn’t end with releasing the trout fry. They also took a sample of lake water back with them to test its chemical levels.