Fun field trip at the Rapidan River

by Victoria Edelman and Kellyn Torres-Contreras, Students, William Monroa Middle School
Published: April 24, 2008

Half the sixth grade students from WMMS went on an exciting field trip to the Rapidan River to see how healthy the stream is. Some of their favorite parts were getting wet, catching and identifying bugs, and the visual assessment. The students tested the pH level, which was about 5.5. That means the river is in a good condition.
Stations and Helpers
The first station was monitoring the river. This station was a joy to students because they liked to get wet. Even though the water was freezing, they enjoyed it. A favorite activity was the actual bug finding. One group found a salamander, 21 net spinners, a few fish eggs, and 7 water pennies.  Thanks to Richard Jacobs, Khalil Hassan, Ashley Young, and Bob Edelman for working this station.
The visual assessment was a fun station for all the math whizzes.  You had to calculate the velocity, and the depth of the water which allowed you to calculate the amount of water flowing down the river.  By the end of the fun at station two, everyone was soaking wet!  A thank you goes out to Spencer Yager, Peter Acker, Nancy Utz, and David Massie for helping with the assessment.
When the students tested the water by chemical assessment, they leaned how much dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, and pH, was in the water and so much more! They would shake up the test tube with chemicals in it, and then match it up with the acidic table.  Thanks to Stephanie DeNicola, Rex Rexrode, and Kelly Mallory for running the chemical assessment.
The next exciting station was the septic plant.  Students learned how the system works and what not to do.  The girls were grossed out but the boys were very into it.  Evan Blumenstein is thanked for running the septic station.
The last station was the layers of the soil.  The students did a experiment that tested what kind of soil water best flows through.  They decided the soil with grass in it was the best.  Thank you Brad Jarvis for helping the students learn about soil layers.
We would specially like to thank Greg Wichelns, the head of Culpeper Soil & Water, for making the trip possible.  Without him the students wouldn’t have been able to have such a memorable trip to the Rapidan River.
The program also wouldn’t have been possible without the help of parents, as well as the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District.  The teachers were also the main reason for the trip to the River.  We want to thank all of them again for their kindness to the students of WMMS.