 Twenty students from Southwestern High School (Pulaski County) visited Chesapeake Bay to study the environment June 22-25, 2005. Eastern Kentucky PRIDE sponsored the trip as the school’s prize for winning the 2005 PRIDE High School Campus of the Year Award. KET aired "Cumberland Kids on the Bay," a documentary about their trip.
The students, who were members of the SWHS Conservation and Raptor Club, spent two nights at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Smith Island Study Center in Tylerton, Maryland. The foundation’s instructors helped the students explore the interaction between people and the environment. On Smith Island, conservation is a way of life due to limited resources and the 300 inhabitants’ dependence on the bay to make a living.
“The trip was a good educational experience for the students,” said James Cox, SWHS teacher. “Hopefully, they can bring back to Pulaski County some of the conservation techniques they learned on the island.” Cox went on the trip, along with SWHS teacher Cindy Ries and principal Boyd Randolph and his wife, Deana.
The three-day course emphasized hands-on learning. The students “mucked” in the mud to study marsh ecology, trapped crabs to learn about aquatic life and toured the bay in canoes. They visited local residents to learn about the history and culture of the small island’s fishing community.
“The students enjoyed the new experiences, especially using the crab pots,” Cox said. “Even canoeing was new to some of them, so that was one of their favorite activities. I thought the culture on the island was interesting. It was similar to farming around here.”
The trip provided many lessons in personal responsibility, PRIDE’s core message. Students lived in two dormitory-style houses, which they kept clean. They prepared their own meals, including making a crab dinner from their fresh catch.
To help conserve the island’s small supply of fresh water, the students limited their water use, even foregoing showers.
“You really appreciate water when you can’t use it freely, and that’s good motivation to protect water quality,” said Karen Deaton, PRIDE’s education director and deputy executive director. Deaton was one of three PRIDE staff who went on the trip.
“Living on the island was a good reminder that clean water is precious,” Deaton continued. “Public water systems make water seem plentiful. If we don’t choose to take care of our streams and lakes now, then conservation could become a necessity in the future.”
SWHS was named the PRIDE Campus of the Year for its extensive environmental education program. The school’s outdoor classroom facilities include a greenhouse, shelter, nature trail, weather station and amphitheater. Students recycle cans, paper and newspapers, test water quality at the stream at neighboring Oak Hill Elementary School, and volunteer during the annual Lake Cumberland Cleanup. Through the school’s unique Raptor Rehabilitation Program, students care for injured birds around the clock.
PRIDE, which stands for Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment, serves 38 counties in southern and eastern Kentucky. PRIDE was founded in 1997 by Congressman Hal Rogers and the late James Bickford, former Secretary of the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, and is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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