In November 2022, East Midvale Elementary’s newsletter congratulated Riley Howell for being awarded the Canyons Foundation’s innovation grant. 

With the $7,176 grant, students were able to raise trout during the school year. 

It began with getting the equipment, which at first, was hidden behind a butcher-paper sign, “Trout Life Cycle.”

Principal Matt Nelson said that all the fourth graders participated. 

“She got enough equipment for every fourth-grade class to have an aquarium filtration system,” Nelson said. 

On a dedicated East Midvale trout Instagram account, Howell wrote, “This grant means everything to me; prepping for this moment was not easy, but so worth it.”

Then, on Jan. 11, 600 trout eggs arrived at the school, with a post that said, “Excitement is an understatement.” 

Assistant Principal Elenoa Pua said students journaled the size, color and shape and everything they saw.

“They followed it from eggs to releasing the fish,” she said.

Photos and videos also were added to the Instagram account leading up to the release of the 2-inch fish shortly before the end of the school year. 

“It truly was a memorable learning experience,” Nelson said. λ