Pick Up a Rock: Jake Agosto's Path From Worksheet to Watershed
When Jake Agosto took environmental science at Carrboro High School during his junior year, the class studied aquatic macroinvertebrates from a worksheet with photographs. Jake’s buggy curiosity was piqued, but this worksheet just didn’t do the trick. Jake wanted the real thing, to somehow make an impact. He told me, "You want to get out there and actually do something with what you learn."
He found his deeper experience through one of our River Watch trainings led by Kaitlyn Elliott, our Water Quality Program Manager. Jake already knew about Haw River Assembly from our Swim Report; he and his friends would check our results before swimming at Chicken Bridge. However, the River Watch training connected our name to field work, and it showed him something his school didn't have: a hands-on way to study the creek that runs less than a 10-minute walk from campus.
Jake, Center with Paperhand T-Shirt, pictured with the Carrboro High School River Watch Green Team
The Green Team
In October 2024, Jake founded the Green Team, Carrboro High's own River Watch chapter. He borrowed testing equipment from Kaitlyn for the club's first training, then wrote a grant to the school's PTSA (Parent-Teacher School Association) for $150 to buy gear for the club. A follow-up bake sale covered waders and nets. Kaitlyn stopped by for that sale too, for a muffin (obviously) and with promotional items to hand out.
The club grew quickly. In 2025, Jake opened training sessions for the whole school, not just club members, and drew a different group of students almost every session, sometimes more than the club could fit. Membership peaked at around 20 to 25 students.
Morgan Creek runs next to an apartment complex that houses many of Carrboro High's lower income students. This was a part of the community, Jake said, that some of his classmates from Southern Village rarely see. "There's definitely this connection that people want to have with going to the river, doing something," he said. "They just kind of lack it because they're so used to the norm."
That norm breaks once someone steps into a stream and turns over their first rock. Jake remembers handing a tiny snail to a younger student . He said “it only kind of bites” with a kidding smile. Nervous, she was convinced it would. Many other students were apprehensive too. By spring, however, some members were purposely flooding their waders just to feel the weight of the water.
Jake has learned to read the creek, finding all kinds of bugs and knowing where to look in a riffle. A riffle is a shallow part of a creek where the water flows quickly over rocks, making it look bubbly and fast. He has also watched the creek change: flooding, fewer trees since Tropical Storm Chantal, funky smells when the water runs low, and more life in the riffle when it runs high.
What’s Next?
Jake graduated and is now at NC State on a Goodnight Scholarship, a full ride awarded largely for community involvement and one of only 100 given this year. He plans to study environmental engineering and is drawn to work that combines fieldwork with results he can actually see.
Long term, he's weighing freshwater ecosystem recovery and stormwater control, work he traces directly back to the flood damage he watched near his neighborhood after Chantal.
The Green Team will continue on without him. Rising seniors Kaya and Eva are taking over as co-presidents, and their English teacher Mr. McCarthy, who also runs the school garden, is stepping in as their faculty supervisor.
When I asked Jake what he'd tell another student who’s thinking about joining River Watch, he didn't hesitate: "Don't be afraid to get outside of your local pool. Actually go visit a river… It's a very different vibe than the public pool, which I feel is just too hectic and chaotic versus a nice swimming hole like Chicken Bridge. Just being able to be with nature and sit there. It's not so loud; it's much more peaceful and serene. Pick up a rock and there's a mayfly, there's a caddisfly, there's a little snail. I want to encourage more people to just go walk up to a riffle in a healthy riverbed and just pick up a rock and look under it. Because there are a lot more animals there than what you realize.”
Our interview with Jake was conducted on July 24, 2026.
We are so proud of our River Watch teams! The next training is Saturday, September 12th, 2026. Sign up HERE!
If you can’t make it, but you’re interested for the future, we have trainings quarterly. Learn more HERE.
