Friday, September 28, Nina Daye and Jenna Hunter's AP Environmental Science classes took an educational field trip to the Eno River in downtown Hillsborough. The day was broken up into two separate groups to facilitate the large number of students attending; first and second period went for the first two classes of the day and third and fourth went after lunch. When the students arrived at the river they broke off even more into two groups. One of the places the two groups could go to was the pavilion where the Hillsborough Farmer's Market is held. Here, two speakers talked about how pollution of the Eno River could affect the whole local river basin and other cities' clean water sources. They also discussed ways to prevent pollution such as starting rain gardens, in which people plant gardens downtown to soak up water and filters out pollutants that may otherwise travel back into the river. The last topic discussed detailed how the conservationists giving the presentation had restored the section of the Eno River that runs through Hillsborough by planting trees and creating a curvier river which slows down erosion. After this, the group took a tour around the Eno River and looked at plant life.
The next place the students went involved a more hands-on activity. Students were allowed to get into the river and measure things like pH levels, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen levels, all of which indicate the quality of the water. The third and fourth period group left OHS because of a school fire drill which only allowed their groups to do one test in the water. At first the students were a little hesitant to get into the cold water but soon warmed up to the idea. “Sloshing around in the water was fun,” said junior Thomas Rush. After this, it was time to look for living creatures within the water. Sophomore Megan Joyner said, “I liked getting into the river and looking for the macro-invertebrates.” Groups found water pennies, crayfish, and even leeches. One of the guest speakers talked about how important wildlife was to the river and how they are determine if a river is healthy or not.
Once students got back to campus they were expected to do a lab that covered everything they learned from the field trip.
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