Wilderness Southeast also helps public school students investigate the natural world around them. "Fish Gotta Swim..." is Wilderness Southeast's middle school program that has students investigating water quality at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge through a six-month series of field trips and classroom labs. Topic-centered and hands-on, the program links the schools' educational objectives with refuge research and a community's needs. Major funding for the pilot year was provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Nature of Learning Initiative. Several community partners, from both the public and private sectors, also helped give these middle school students a chance to participate in Fish Gotta Swim.... In 1973, three friends, passionate about and intrigued by wild ecosystems and their crucial connections to the quality of human life, melded their knowledge to found Wilderness Southeast, Inc We began teaching ecology, biology, geology, and human history on three to seven day wilderness expeditions. Wilderness Southeast now offers, to adults, families, and organized groups, a unique combination of day programs exploring the matchless habitats of the coastal plain of Georgia and South Carolina.