Editor, Gazette-Journal:

As the Class of 2014 took the stage in celebration of the completion of their high school career, they share something special with many of our students here in Gloucester County. In addition to this milestone, those students also have the distinction of being the first cohort of Gloucester County Public School students who benefited from the National Science Foundation’s GK12 Partnership between Educators and Researchers for Enhancing Classroom Teaching (PERFECT) program during their seventh grade year.

The NSF GK12 PERFECT program is a partnership with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). Teachers are partnered with graduate Fellows to help them adapt their research and science lessons for the classroom audience. Through interactions with our classroom students, the graduate Fellows improve their science communications skills and the students get a rich palette of STEM-based instruction with an emphasis on marine science.

For the five yea...