CREVE COEUR, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com)—
Close to 70 students from Maplewood-Richmond Heights Middle School were right in the middle of the disaster response in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday. Fox 2 connected with the students through YouTube Tuesday night. They were on the their long-awaited "Expedition" trip: a tradition at their school.The students go to Dauphin Island, Alabama, to study ecosystems in the Gulf and salt marshes. They also learn about military history touring forts that guard Mobile Bay.
"Hey it's Zach, I'm with MRH. I'm rocking this gig, day 2 at Dauphin," said one of the students, strumming a guitar in a YouTube posting.
"As you can see, Dauphin Island is kind of being invaded here," said Technology and Gifted Education teacher, David Grossman, in another post, showing the mass of people gathered near the beach first thing in the morning.
The 8th Graders had been planning the trip all year. They were learning lessons they hadn't planned on learning; surrounded by cleanup and observation crews, looking for signs of the oil spill reaching the island while trying to keep it from happengin.
Hay bales stretched for miles along the beaches to stop the oil; the trip forever changed by the ever growing 210,000 gallon-a-day oil spill just a few miles offshore from where they were pulling creatures from the waters of the salt marshes and at sea, studying them and now, on this trip, looking for signs of oil.
They'd seen none as of Tuesday.
"Why is it so important that oil doesn't get into these areas ?" Grossman, asked one the of researchers in the marshes in one of the class's YouTube posts. "Because this is literally the cradle of the sea," she said. "This is where all the the little baby crabs, baby shrimp, baby fish, especially this time of year, are spawning."
"Our big picture idea for our expeditions is man's impact on the environment," said Dean of Students, Tom Kulla-Abbott.
Though the students had yet to see signs of oil, they did see the massive effort to stop a potential environmental disaster.
"It's a lot of commotion," said student, Andy Vols. "You hear the U.S. Coast Guard, you hear their helicopters and see all their boats going across the water. It's just been really hectic."
"It seems like everyone's in a rush to stop the oil," said student, Travia Gray. "Down here, this is where they do a lot of their fishing. It effects basically everyone; the aquatic life and us, because this is where we all get our wonderful seafood. Everyone's just trying to stop the oil because it is devastating."
Vols had spoken to ship captain.
"He said they were out for the last time, before the oil gets here to get all the shrimp they can," he said. "So, they get all the shrimp where they can have it and try to keep their businesses going."
The Susic family from Webster Groves, staying in Gulf Shores, alabama, about 30 miles East of the students, sent us pictures of their children and their friends' children enjoying the beach Monday. They sent us new pictures Tuesday.
"Haz-mat crews looking, cleaning up the oil chunk that was on the beach," Laura Susic said while taking video of a cleanup crew, picking up the first glob of solidified oil to wash ashore.
Vols said as much as anything on the trip, he learned we all need to do more to use less oil; his generation would lead the way. For instance, he'd be more likely to walk and ride his bike where he needed to go, instead of talking rides in a car. "So we're less dependent on all the oil and fossil fuels," he said. "Everyone could do a little bit and it would help the environment a ton."
"I think we're too dependent on certain things. We need to take into consideration to use more natural sources of energy," Gray said. "If we all get involved to help the environment, then we'll all have a brighter future. The Earth can only do so much and we have to help it out."
Those students hoped they were witnessing man learning that lesson and also the birth of environmental miracle; when man came together to save ocean life.
Watch The Students' YouTube Posts Here
