Celebrity Reporters in Florida

Some of our rising Gr 9 and 10 students travelled to Florida this past week with Middle School Spanish teacher, Hilda Ramirez. We are sharing a note home to parents in today’s blog post to give you a taste of their adventures thus far:

Dear Parents,

We are all very sad that this is our last full day in Florida, the students were amazing and a joy to be around. They were always up for any adventure no matter what the weather brought!

As one of the newest members to this Riverstone group, it was a joy to see how well the students interacted with one another, and especially, how well they care for each other. Thank you for the opportunity to travel with them!

Please enjoy our last update by our three celebrity reporters, Javin S, James E, and Manaka G.

-Hilda

Hi, I’m Javin. Today we visited Curry Hammock State Park in Marathon Key. There, we went searching in the ocean for wildlife. We focused on looking in tall sea grass. We used large nets to collect small creatures that inhabited the grass. We found a wide variety of animals, ranging from arthropods to mollusks. Some of the notable creatures we found were seahorses, a large horseshoe crab, and a sea cucumber. We also found many different kinds of fish. This was a unique opportunity to learn some interesting ecology about the Florida Key’s ocean wildlife. For me, the best part of this activity was classifying and naming every animal we caught.

Hello, James here. Today we went to Robby’s in Marathon Key. It was an outdoor area with a multitude of local culture, similar to ‘Art in the Park’ in Boise. Upon arrival, we entered a small hut near the shore and supplied ourselves with small fish. We then walked down a dock and held the fish about three inches above the water, waiting for large Tarpons to jump out of the ocean and take the bait. After that, we went back to the market and viewed the various chefs selling homemade popcorn, drinks, and other foods, as well as artists and photographers selling their works. There was one person in particular who made amazing art with spray-paint and various tools. He sold his work for only $20, and I totally would’ve bought one if there was a way to take it on the plane without damaging it.

I’m Manaka. Today we went to the turtle hospital. We learned a lot of things about sick turtles and how they make them better. We watched turtles in the tanks. They help them get better so they can send them to the ocean. We saw at least 100 turtles in there. I feel bad for turtles that cannot return to the ocean. I hope people keep the ocean clean.