Christchurch School Sustainability Task Force Objectives

ADMISSIONSQUEST PODCAST FEATURING CCS DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION NANCY NOLAN

9/23/2009 download podcast here

My Birthday on the Chesapeake Bay: One Weekend on My Great Journey

by Carlos Gray ‘12

9/22/2009

My birthday on the Bay was awesome! We explored guts in the

salt marsh, canoed in very deep water, explored islands, fished,

relaxed and walked in what I thought was quicksand. We saw

tons of wildlife throughout the day. At one point we even saw

two bald eagles fighting over territory.

During our long paddle out to Winter Harbor Island my canoe

partner, Kai, and I flipped the canoe leaving us covered in stinky,

black marsh mud. We quickly learned not to attempt to turn the

boat in opposite directions. When we arrived to Winter Harbor it

was amazing. It was this long strip of beach, and on the other

side the Chesapeake Bay!

While Kyle Blankenship (KB) and Willie Sisk were making a

blazing fire on the beach, Frankie West, Patrick Ramsey, Henry

Hall, Kai Strachan and I played a game of touch football.

Frankie and I dominated with a 28 to 14 victory. Later on we

used the seine net to see what types of different species we

could catch. It was amazing what we caught. There were black

drum, blue crabs, shrimp, gray trout, oysters, flounder, and at

least six other types of fish. After we learned more about how

the Chesapeake Bay works we sat down at KB and Willie’s fire

and had SMORES!

The group decided that we should drag our canoes across the

narrow island and paddle down the bay side. When we attempted

to push off the beach Kai and I flipped the canoe again. The

water actually felt really good and we quickly got back in the

boat and caught up to the others. While canoeing south to

another spot below Winter Harbor I sat and watched the huge

blue sky connect with the wide-open Chesapeake and was blown

away by the amazing horizon that I don’t see to often where I’m

from.

After a long paddle we arrived on another island and immediately

started eating lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, crab

chips and watermelon hit the spot. After lunch we tried to do a

little fishing. We started off with lots of action, but the fish

always took our bait and swam away. There was one unlucky,

massive flounder that Hardy caught. Mr. Cola actually held it up

and taught us about where it lives and how it feed. I think that

was a highlight of the trip because Hardy had never caught a

fish before and many of us had never been that close to a

flounder. Unfortunately, no one else caught a fish but we were

all happy that we got to see and experience the Bay up close.

After a talk about our connection to the Bay, we loaded up the

canoes and continued to paddle around Winter Harbor Island,

through more marsh guts, to get back to the buses.

The Adventure Trips have really changed my perspective on a lot

of things, and since I enjoyed all the ones I’ve been on, I can

see the big picture. You make new friends, it gets you out of

your comfort zone and it can even help make you a leader. Three

years ago I would have never thought that I would be climbing

mountains in the freezing cold, exploring islands in the

Chesapeake Bay, catching and naming fish, and walking in

marshes. No matter where you come from, I can guarantee that

you would have a great time on any Adventure Trip.

Mosquito Island Adventure Trip: One Weekend on My Great Journey

by Frankie West ‘11

9/20/2009

PHOTOS FROM OUR ADVENTURE!

At 9 am Sunday morning, fourteen students and two teachers (Mr. and Mrs. Cola) got on a CCS bus and followed the River Immersion canoe rig down river to our put in spot near the mouth of the Rappahannock. We were all excited to spend some quality time on the river exploring, fishing and playing. We arrived at the Wallin’s house (our put in spot) around 9:45. After reloading our gear into the canoes we paddled out to the Mosquito islands under blue skies. Our way out there was tough. We had both the wind and current against us. Luckily we had Matt Wallin as our local guide and eventually made it to the sweetest white-sand island in the area.

When we first arrived on the island we went swimming in the river and ate watermelon. It was really cool to have awesome weather, canoes, seine nets, fishing rods, freedom, friends and the island as our playground for the day. We could actually see the Chesapeake Bay from Mosquito Island. That was pretty neat since it was Labor Day weekend and there were a lot of people having fun out on water.

Some students got in their canoes to explore and fish out into the river. Other students walked along a sandbar from one island to the next. Still other students dug holes, covered themselves with sand and swam. The one thing we had on the island that everyone enjoyed was a “volleyball net” that someone before us had constructed out of two pine trees and a long fishing net that must have washed up. We originally tried to get a volleyball game going. Then we tried to get a football game going. Finally, we invented our own game, Paddle/ Volleyball. In was a lot of fun. We actually ended up getting so into it that we had a tournament. We had a few intense games and in the end Carlos Gray and I were the champions.

Spending a warm summer day on an island at the mouth of the Rappahannock was a great experience that I think everyone at CCS should have. It is a chance of a lifetime to go to Christchurch School and partake in these Adventure Trips. I am proud to say that I have been on many of them and look forward to many more!

Professor Cassar Joins Christchurch School’s Honors Biology Class

Assistant Professor (Duke University) and Associate Research Scholar (Princeton University) Nicolas Cassar joined Dr Carrillo’s Honors Biology class via Skype to help our students understand basic concepts like net community production of our local river, and to talk about his paper published in Science Magazine, The Southern Ocean Biological Response to Aeolian Iron Deposition. Prof Cassar has graciously donated his time to join our class on a regular basis to help students see the real application of the topics that they are learning about in class. For instance, the class is learning about photosynthesis and respiration in the Rappahannock River. Being able to ask questions in real time with access to a professional researcher/professor will add another dimension to our classroom without walls.

Prof Cassar is a biogeochemist interested in ocean carbon cycling and productivity, and carbon acquisition mechanisms in marie phytoplankton. He has participated in numerous research cruises in the Southern (Antarctic) and Pacific Oceans. His awards include the Best Paper of the Year published in Phycologia 2007, Faculty of 1000 Biology recommended and the AGUs Editors Choice, Major Contribution to Biogeosciences.  For more information see his webpage at http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/cassar/index.html

Christchurch School Oyster Farm: Students working with new oyster boom

September 21, 2009

Living Campus had an eventful afternoon despite another day of strong breezes. The group was able to remove an older cage from the river that was overcrowded. We split the cage in half and placed one half in a second cage level. We then evenly distributed the remaining oysters in the lower half throughout the lower cage. This will allow the oysters more room to grow. The boom is still working great and has made working on the farm easier and safer. Thanks again to Alderman Railcar Services, Keysville, VA for the oyster boom.

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A closer look at this year’s spat set

The larvae that were released into the waterfront’s 1700 gallon tank attached themselves to the shell bags in in the tank. The bags were then moved by the Christchurch community out to the school’s reef site where they will permanently live and grow. 250 bags with approximately 100 pieces of shell in each bag were placed on the reef. The shell above was randomly selected out of all the shell in the tank. Special tanks to Tidewater Oyster Gardening Association for their generous contribution to make this year’s reef build possible. Please visit their website for more information: http://www.oystergardener.org. Please join CCS and TOGA and help replenish native oysters to the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Fall Living Campus team is excited to see the success of the “spat” strike on shell

 

September 16, 2009

Living Campus has worked hard behind the scenes to make this year’s reef build happen. They have been washing shell, moving shell bags, washing tanks, trouble shooting pump failure’s (special thanks to Dr. Carrillo and Mr. Blankenship for their support), preparing the bottom for the “spat on shell”, monitoring the upweller, and enjoying river time. Today, we washed remaining bags and found many baby oyster’s (spat) connected to the shell that was placed in the river. This year’s set is a huge improvement from last year’s set and we look forward to watching the young oysters grow, filter river water, and provide habitat. The left over bags will be placed in various locations in the river and Urbanna creek. Living Campus will be revisiting the shell in an experiment to research where future “spat on shell” sets should be placed. 

Living campus would like to send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in this year’s reef build. Grow babies Grow!

Second Annual “Spat on Shell” Oyster Reef Build at Christchurch School

It was a beautiful afternoon on September 14th, in and out of the water. The Christchurch community gathered at the waterfront to place 250 bags of oyster shell into the Rappahannock River. The shell had baby oysters called “Spat” connected to them. Two weeks ago, our 1700 gallon tank was filled with filtered river water and circulated with our aerator. After 24 hours, 4 million larvae were released into the tank. The larvae instinctively connect to the old shell, where they will permanently stay. Yesterday, the shell bags were passed out to our reef site by many, many hands and released into the river.

Along with building this years reef, students were able to see the spat connected to the shell that they placed in the river last year.  The two reefs combined will filter millions of gallons of river water each day. It is exciting to see a community that lives on the river, build a community in the river. Special thanks to Friends of the Rappahannock and Tidewater Oyster Gardening Association.