From Thursday, October 11 to Friday, October 12, the tenth grade class had an opportunity to shake hands with nature. We got to know the nature of New York, using art, writing, and science as our methods of communication. For our Ideal Days, we took an overnight trip to Black Rock Forest in the Hudson Highlands of New York, accompanied by Dr. Burgess, Mr. Rose, Ms. Farrell, and Ms. Morton. The whole experience surrounded the idea of living in the now, and the first part of the trip involved the creation of our own art: ephemeral art, huts and boats of bamboo, and a performance from the Black Rock-ettes!
Our last day at Black Rock Forest was dedicated to our inner chemists. The night before our science activities, I sat down with Ms. Farrell to learn a little more about what we’d be doing.
Susannah: Can you describe some of the experiments we will be doing and what they will involve?
Ms. Farrell: We’ll be doing a variety of environmental tests involving chemistry, including testing water and looking at various samples from the reservoir and other areas. We’ll test for pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and appearance. We’ll also be testing the soil in Black Rock and its pH levels, appearance, minerals that may be available, and more.
Susannah: What are the purposes of these tests besides more experimental practice?
Ms. Farrell: Well, in terms of the water testing, we’d like to cover more than just one area. By breaking into groups, we’ll be able to compare water quality in one location to that of another. With soil tests, all the data we collect will potentially affect aquatic life nearby. We also want to see the impact that the invasive species at Black Rock, the Japanese Barberry, has on its environment. With all of this, we are more efficiently making use of what New York has to offer.
Susannah: I’ve heard that your scientific endeavors on last year’s Black Rock overnight did not fair as well. What was the problem?
Ms. Farrell: The main reason that water testing from last year’s trip did not work out was due to our probes. Our probes were not adjusting properly and were not correctly prepared. For example, they would show the pH of a sample of water being around 4, an acidic level that would not be able to foster any aquatic life.
Susannah: Do you think it’s important to utilize our natural environment here as opposed to recreating something synthetic in a lab?
Ms. Farrell: Definitely. With this trip, we have a huge opportunity to be around nature to an extent that far surpasses New York City. Being surrounded by buildings and concrete all day contrasts to this type of environment where everything is simply undisturbed. It makes for a different experience, from any perspective, art and science alike, for you can always learn new things from just opening your eyes to nature.
Susannah: Have you gained any new experience or information by opening your eyes to nature yet?
Ms. Farrell: Well, I’ve never seen a caterpillar before. Walking all around Storm King, I took a closer look at these odd pipe cleaners next to my feet only to realize they were caterpillars, a species completely new to my eyes.
Susannah: Are the activities we will be participating in the same as those in previous years?
Ms. Farrell: The water sampling is similar to previous years. However, the activities of investigating more into the invasive species and of soil testing are new this year, thanks to Ms. Morton. Adding these tests allows us to learn more about where we are staying.
Wanting to find more about these new activities, I went to Ms. Morton, where it all started.
Ms. Morton: I got the idea for testing soil with and without invasive species based on my work during graduate school on exotic, invasive plants that looked at the effects of invasive plants on soil chemistry. For our trip to Black Rock I wanted to use this topic to do our own comparison with an abundant invasive species, Japanese Barberry. This gives students an opportunity to understand and evaluate the experimental design and make predictions, like researchers. And it’s something we’ve never done before–it’s new and different from previous years and students are finding out something we’ve never known before, which is very exciting!
Everything turned out successfully. This lab work gave us more knowledge on different tests and helped us to understand how each test can affect things around us at Black Rock. For example, dissolved oxygen can support fish populations, and the pH of soil controls nutrient availability. It also affects our daily lives, for the water in reservoirs supply us with drink water on which to live. Evidently, chemistry found all around us affects the way we live our lives, and it was from our science work at Black Rock that really unmasked that true significance. Take a look at the pictures below to see the 10th grade hard at work, giving nature one firm handshake.
All photographs credited to Susannah Meyer.