Stories Around the Lake-Interview with Peter Pollock
“You should stay in school and go to college”
Mr. Pollock was born in Cooperstown, NY in 1958. His father was a physician at Bassett Hospital and his mother was a nurse. Mr. Pollock’s dad joined the Armed Forces, so as kid Mr.Pollock got to travel to many places including Kansas, Ethiopia, and Kenya. When he was 8 years old, he came back to Cooperstown and started 4th grade. His passion and interest for math, science, and experiments started at a young age. Both his parents were his inspiration to become a scientist. They were supportive and let him pick what he wanted to learn. He graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1976, he went to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY to get his bachelor's degree in biology. He wanted to become a genetics counselor because he loved genetics. Then he decided to go to a school in Albany to get his degree as a Physician Assistant. Then he went back and got his college degree from SUCO, Oneonta. He finished his masters in science education and he decided to become a teacher. Currently, he works as a science teacher at Cooperstown Central School and as a scientist at the Biological Field Station.
Mr. Pollock is in his 50s now, married to Mrs. Garcia (the 6th grade teacher). His favorite pastime is playing squash, and he also likes to walk up a hill and walk the trails with his two dogs.
Mr. Pollock conducts a science camp every summer for kids. His work is mainly on the hills around the lake. He likes to study the ecology of the lake. He worked with Dr. Harman who was the director of the Biological Field Station, and learned a lot about aquatic invertebrates. Mr. Pollock collects aquatic species and teaches about them at school and at the science camp. The most fascinating thing about the lake to Mr. Pollock is the change in temperature of the lake waters during different seasons. The most favorite thing at the Biological Field Station is to go out on the barge and collect mud from the bottom of the lake through an instrument called the Ekman Dredge and study about it. One time they collected chunks of coal from the bottom of the lake and finally traced it back to a steamboat leaving ashes in the lake. Mr. Pollock’s advice to young kids is to spend less time on gadgets, read more and play outside a lot. The interview with Mr. Pollock was amazing, Mr. Pollock has many wonderful stories. Listen to our entire interview to hear them.
