This article describes how a biology teacher's search for a cross-curricular project in science, math, history, and environmental science, that would help her students connect what they were learning in the classroom to their everyday life, resulted in an ongoing stewardship project. Working together with the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program education coordinator, they identified a historically important local wetland area, Alligator Bayou, which was in need of water monitoring. As it turned out, the project that developed from their initial brainstorming served to meet the needs of the stewards of Alligator Bayou, her students, and Louisiana Sea Grant. The students understand the importance of protecting the ecosystems because they have seen with their own eyes what happens when they do not. They understand that knowledge based on data can help in understanding and protecting these ecosystems.