Thumbs up: Masonry students at the Carroll County Career and Tech Center worked with Chesapeake Bay Foundation employees earlier this week to create concrete “reef balls,” which serve as artificial oyster habitats designed to not only restore the bay’s wild oyster population but also naturally clean up excess nutrients in the bay.

The Tech Center students planned to create 200 of the reef balls, which can each produce up to 2,000 oysters. Each oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day. Westminster High School junior Josh Kosmicki, who is president of the school’s Coastal Conservation Association and reached out to the Maryland branch of the CCA to get the reef ball project moving, said he hopes it will help inspire students to be more bay-wise.

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