Honors Bio Back Bay Field Trip

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Britta Wolker, Journalist

As a great way to tie up the week before break, honors biology students participated in the annual NAC field trip. Upon arrival, the sky was colored with the mornings’ grey-blue fog with streaks of yellow sunlight peeking through. Birds of all kinds flew across the glassy water paying no mind to their new visitors. And as the hours passed, the day had hardly changed. It looked like a true winter day in SoCal.
One. Two. One. Two. Students were separated into two groups, one which would start on land, then go on the boats, and vise versa. The group on land were instructed to follow their guide and explore different invasive plant species, such as the Brazilian Pepper Tree, and how those plants cause both environmental issues and costly expenses for the process of their removal. Students also learned and tested how temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen in the water affect the plants and animals living in the environment.
As the water group paddled into sight, it was time for lunch. Students shivered in the cold during the thirty minute period, as they sat with their friends, chatting away.
Soon enough it was time to switch. The land group had now switched to the water, lining up in rows wearing discolored life vests with paddles in hand as their bare feet pressed against the sand, all ears for instruction. Two long and narrow canoes were utilized, as continuous echoes of  “eighteen, nineteen, SWITCH!!!” and laughter echoed through the air as the boats made their way through the water. Every so often, the guide sitting on the back of the boat would stop to talk about a bird species or area they had encountered.
On the way back, both boats competed to arrive at the sand first, the water was so shallow in some parts, that the paddles could reach the muddy silt from underneath.
After the students rinsed off, they hurried for the busses as their long day at the bay had come to an end. “My favorite part about the trip was getting to go on the canoe and learning things I didn’t know previously,” said Freshman Sienna Cuneo. It was a truly memorable day filled with genuine happiness and laughter that would later on be worth remembering.