More than 30 students from the Northeast Area Development's Freedom School are spending the week at the University of Rochester's Get Real! Science Camp. Graduate students studying to become science teachers lead the camp.

"It's about science inquiry, it's about hands on and it's about getting kids to relate to the science around us in our everyday world and understanding that,” said Sara Geitner, Research Lab Technician.

These kids are getting some real hands on experience testing the water quality at Ontario Beach Park. After choosing three test locations, the students gear up.

"Then we'll go out in the water with our water probes and we'll take the temperature. Then we're going to take, I forgot what they're called, the little sticks and stick them in the water and that will tell us how much bacteria is in the water,” said Unique Jackson, 10th grader at Freedom School.

The camp is designed to get teens interested in science by taking on real scientific problems outside the classroom.

"I'm learning a lot of stuff about the bacteria, and I never knew what the word algae was and it's part of bacteria that's in the water,” said Jervon Johnson, a 6th grader at Freedom School.

This is the eighth year that the University of Rochester has hosted this camp, and it seems as though every year the findings are a little bit different.

That's because the kids change each year and bring with them different questions that need answers. The weather and other activity near testing sites can also cause varied results.

"Today is an interesting example because it's a really nice day and it looks really nice; sometimes the beach is closed when it's a really nice day. Two years ago, they had the Army Corps of Engineers here. They were pumping stuff over so it's a little bit different every year," said Joe Henderson, Camp Director.

The students will test their water samples at the U of R's laboratory on Wednesday. They will then create a multimedia presentation and share their findings with the community on Monday beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Freedom School.