Bit by remarkable bit, Mahopac Middle School students are transforming the school's science wing hallways into an earth science wonderland.

With an ambitious mural project, first launched in the spring of 2010, students from sixth to eighth grade are turning three stories of monotone hallways in the school's science wing into vibrant, multicolored galleries of landscapes and seascapes, fish, fowl, flora and fauna.

Eventually, the murals will encompass all three floors and stairwells, offering visions of sea, land and outer space, plus exhibits of the sciences - chemistry, physics and biology.

Though only a third complete, the finished work already forecasts the potential of the ultimate goal. Walk along the lower level - designated for sea murals - and you have a sense of traveling serenely across the ocean floor. On the next level, you walk through landscapes that start with images of cave paintings going back thousands of years and move on to vistas of mountains and jungles.

The artists of this exceptional work - "about 100 of them, coming and going since the beginning" - have donated countless hours, said Gary Luciano, the technology enrichment teacher who launched the project and continues to direct it. Students work for an hour after school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, under Mr. Luciano's supervision... and sometimes on Saturdays. It's all voluntary.

Paint, valued at more than $1,000, has been donated to the project by Wallauer Decorating Stores in Mahopac. The school's Parent Teacher Organization donates $1,000 annually for supplies, but all labor, including the time spent by Gary Luciano and other teachers, is free.

"I just felt the walls needed to be livened up," Mr. Luciano said, "and with this project, students can contribute and learn about science at the same time."

A stretch of landscape between Mahopac High School and Baldwin Place Road is quietly but steadily making a splash.

Often overlooked by passersby, the area includes a small pond, a stream and a strip of landscape that has become the focus of a recent New York State Department of Environmental Conservation grant valued at nearly $100,000 and grown into a productive outdoor classroom and laboratory for earth science teaching.

Students in Bob Connick's Environmental Research class have been fishing in the pond - to catch and measure fish before tossing them back; measuring areas of invasive plants along the banks to determine how best to remove them and replace them with native species; testing water quality; and searching for animals to outfit with transmitters that will track their comings and goings.

Data students collect will be submitted to regional water quality agencies to contribute to the knowledge and welfare of the New York City watershed, Mr. Connick said.  

TEACHER Robert Connick describes how the stream and its new walkway and plaza help students

improve the area water quality.  

Mr. Connick has used the stream and pond for several years to introduce ecosystems to his students and, with grant funding and student effort, the area has been enhanced by deepening the pond, improving storm drains and creating a no-mow zone around the stream. The current Genesis Project grant, which provides matching funds up to $97,800, is the result of a proposal he wrote last year. The grant money has been used so far to build a handicapped accessible brick pathway and plaza for an outdoor classroom. Richard Othmer, a local contractor, donated time and equipment for the project.

Mr. Connick is encouraged by the students' enthusiasm. Three times as many students have signed up for the course this year as last year, he said. "I want to help my students become good stewards of the Earth, to care for and understand nature's beauty and organization.... And hands-on always works best."