From September 19th to 23rd, 2009, Dellwood Middle School students and staff participated in Shark Week.

During Shark Week the school had a different activity to do every day. The students did work sheets and watched videos that all revolve around that misunderstood sea creature.

A representative from the Aquarium also came in and spoke with the M1 students.

At the beginning of the week, students and staff had an assembly featuring Choy Aming, one of Bermuda's leading shark researchers. Mr. Aming taught everyone more about sharks.

Mr. Aming has been concentrating on Tiger Sharks here in Bermuda. Mr. Aming has swum with humpback whales, a whale shark and tiger sharks here in Bermuda's waters.

He stated that most people who see the film footage of him swimming with the sharks think he's crazy, but he says: "It is dangerous but I don't think it is nearly as dangerous as people imagine."

Dellwood participated in Shark Week because some of the science teachers wanted their students to have fun and learn something new at the same time.

Mr. James, the M3 science teacher who came up with the idea for Shark Week, explained: "We thought to have Shark Week because a lot of people think of sharks as big scary monsters. It was to help people see sharks in a different light."

Shani Simmons, a Dellwood student who participated in Shark Week, said: "I thought that sharks would prey on humans, but now I know they are just trying to survive. Like us."

Shani even made a model of a tiger shark in her enrichment class based on what she had learned about them during the weeklong event.

Dellwood Middle School was enlightened by Shark Week. Many of the students enjoyed it and some even wish to have another week like it. Shani found Shark Week enjoyable and she stated, "I would like to have another week, for monkeys, since some scientists say we evolved from them."

Dellwood students no longer sees sharks as bloodthirsty monsters. They learned that sharks are actually a big part of our environment, and help keep all the sick and injured fish from polluting the other marine animals.