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Annual eighth grade trip mixes education, fun |
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Monday, 21 June 2010 |
By MELANIE MOORE
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BLACKFOOT — Eighth grade students at Mountain View Middle School took a trip of a lifetime to Southern California earlier this month.
Eighty-seven students took part in the summer program coordinated by eighth grade Earth Science teacher Alan Southern. The week-long trip was June 5-11.
Submitted photo
Students observe moon jellies through microscopes at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, Calif. The students were part of the summer program coordinated by Mountain View Middle School eighth grade Earth Science teacher Alan Southern.
The cornerstone activity of the program was a visit to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, Calif. While at the Institute students were able to explore the tide pools, spend time in the Ocean Institute lab and take a two-hour marine mammal cruise on the Pacific Ocean.
This year, students got a special treat while on the mammal cruise.
Southern said the students saw blue whales, a large pod of dolphins and a sunfish. Seeing all three is rare, but seeing blue whales at all is even more unusual.
“This year they just hit the jackpot,” Southern said. In the 21 years he has coordinated these trips, he has only seen blue whales twice before. And this time one of the blue whales showed its fluke before diving down to feed, something only 20 percent of blue whales in the Northern Hemisphere will do.
“It was just spectacular,” Southern said.
The students were also impressed.
“I think that was probably the coolest part,” student Zach Later said. “The overall experience was probably one of the best experiences I’m going to have.”
The students also had the opportunity to dissect a mackerel, test the physical properties of ocean water, to learn about the life-cycle of a moon jelly and to study the relationship between different water organisms.
“The kids had a real hands-on experience,” Southern said.
The students also went to the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah; Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, Belmont Park, Universal Studios, DIsneyland and an L.A. Dodgers game.
“They really got a super experience,” Southern said.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 June 2010 )
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