Hello All,
Today was already day 4! Wow, time is flying fast in this
class. Today we began by finishing the documentary about Dr. Sylvia Earle, a
world-famous oceanographer and explorer who made it her mission to help save
the oceans. We learned a lot about the importance of preserving the ocean.
Almost half of all coral reefs have vanished! Most people don't realize how
important the ocean is. About two-thirds of our oxygen comes from the ocean!
After we finished the documentary, we presented our Chart
Your Life projects. This project consisted of us designing a chart, similar to an
oceanic chart, that depicts our entire life. This project allowed us to use our
creativity to create a plan for our lives, which is important because college
is right around the corner! We learned a lot about the goals of our classmates
as well as the structure of oceanic charts. Spenser wants to work in sports and
eventually become fat. George wants to become a neurosurgeon. Grace wants to
change the world and eventually become a teacher. Our class is full of talented
and aspiring students!
What better way to end our Chart Your Life presentations
than to learn how to tie knots!
You heard that right! We got to be Boys and Girls scouts for
a day learning how to tie unique knots that are extremely helpful for us when
we get to the Bahamas. For example, we learned how to tie a Cleat Hitch knot
which is useful for securing the boat to the dock (we don’t want our boat to
float out into the ocean). Next, we continued to learn other cool knots such as
the Timber Hitch and Barrel Hitch, which are both important for transporting
wood and water buckets across great distances. After a frustrating yet fun
first half an hour, we were almost all experts on different types of knots. By
the end of this period before lunch, however, we were knot ready to hear that
we will be tested on our knot tying skills next week! Welp, time to practice
tying knots while also packing clothes this weekend.
After lunch, we returned to the classroom to hear some more
Chart Your Life presentations from students who came in after the initial
presentations. Again there were some interesting and hilarious life stories.
Afterward, we joined our research groups to solidify and revise our problem
statement before conducting further research on solutions for the major
problems in the Bahamas. All groups also created powerpoint slides in
preparation for the presentations next Monday. We were so invested in doing
research that some of us forgot it was afternoon break.
One minute before our break was over, we all rushed back to
our classroom. You can literally hear our thundering footsteps as we ran down
the math and science wing towards our classroom. For the first time this week,
we didn’t have to do any push-ups! It was a great moment for us. For the last
bit of the day, we started watching a documentary episode called The Blue
Planet. It was really interesting as it depicted the vibrant marine life in the
reefs. We were able to identify most of our spirit animals and got the
opportunity to learn the behaviors of new species of animals. What a great way
to end our first week of intensive! Only 5 more days until our trip!!
See you soon,
Kati and Tyler
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