Kickoff Week

Monday kicked off a busy week here at the field station. The first session of college courses began this week while school groups and Road Scholar continued their activities. Danville High School spent Monday afternoon checking the pH and salinity of the water. The group also learned how to trawl and tried their hand at trawling a couple of times.

On Tuesday morning, Covenant Christian High School students went to Wallops Island to learn about dunes. The students practiced making their own dunes out of only the materials provided to them. They also combed the beach to find shells.​

​The students went to the Maritime Forest on Wednesday morning to walk around and observe the different layers of the forest including the dirt and trees.

​Students from Owen J. Roberts High School spent Wednesday morning learning about invertebrates at Wallops Island. While there, they used sieves to filter through the sand in hopes of finding invertebrates. They also walked along the beach to find shells.

​Road Scholar participants kicked off Thursday morning with a kayaking trip through the Assateague Channel. During their morning paddle, they enjoyed the sights and saw wildlife including juvenile bald eagles and ponies.

On Thursday afternoon, students from Strayer Middle School went to Tom’s Cove to observe the environment. While they were there, they used sieves to discover what animals they could find.

​Also, they used what educators Hannah and Paige called a “Godzilla line” to scare animals into a net.

​To end the week, students from Freedom Middle School spent Friday morning in the marsh examining characteristics of the marsh environment. They embraced the setting by diving into the mud and getting a full body experience of the marsh.

​Students in the Biological Oceanography class with Dr. Robert Vaillancourt from Millersville University took abiotic readings of the ocean on Friday afternoon.