FSHA Students Power Conservation Efforts at Yellowstone



(from L to R): Sydney Acosta ‘13, Dani Garcia ‘14, and Taylor Campbell ’14 hiking in Yellowstone National Park.
(clockwise from top left): India Zietsman ’14, Taylor Campbell ’14, Dani Garcia ’14, Sydney Acosta ’13, and Melene Agakanian ’13 in Yellowstone National Park.

At Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (FSHA), learning isn’t just limited to the classroom. Just ask science teacher Leslie Miller. This summer, Miller traveled to Yellowstone National Park with five current and recently graduated Tologs—Taylor Campbell ’14, Dani Garcia ’14, India Zietsman ’14, Sydney Acosta ’13, and Melene Agakanian ’13—for a nine-day environmental conservation project. The students removed and raised wire fencing, enabling antelope to roam free; located and identified bird eggs and nestlings in a native sagebrush habit; learned about the Yellowstone wolf packs; and presented original research reports using data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ecology Project International (EPI) facilitated the trip.

Though Miller has done some conservation work on her own in the past, this was the first time she involved FSHA students and collaborated with EPI. After hearing about EPI through an email and researching the organization on her own, she advertised the trip through FSHA’s parent meetings and newsletters. “It was open to any students, but in the end all the girls who went were my current (at the time) or former students,” Miller said.

Dani Garcia ’14 and Sydney Acosta ’13 repair a fence in the Centennial Valley.

Dani Garcia ’14 was one of those students. “I decided to participate because I’m very interested in environmental science and animals,” Dani said. “This trip gave me the opportunity to really see a small part of what I could be doing in my life if I choose to continue on the path of ecology.”

As for the best part of the trip, the students had many experiences from which to choose. “My favorite part was probably when we re-fenced a barbed-wire fence in the Centennial Valley,” said Taylor Campbell ’14. “Our team worked for six hours, taking out nails and putting up wire that would help herding, but also decrease the risk of accidents with the deer in the area. It was really cool to see our work benefiting the wildlife firsthand.”

For Dani, learning about the wolves of Montana and the animal’s precarious history was especially moving. “I was shocked at how cruel human beings can be to an animal that is such a major factor in keeping the Montana ecosystem in balance. I learned that human mistakes are the ones that cause the most suffering to animals and nature,” she explained.

Many of the students on the trip had just completed AP Environmental Science (APES), a popular FSHA course that is designed to explore and investigate the interrelationships of the natural world, as well as identify and analyze environmental problems, both natural and human-made. Miller has taught APES for the past five years. One of the cornerstones of the course is a final class project, which the students develop and implement over the last three weeks of the school year.

“We put on a carnival and environmental education event as a fundraiser to assist organizations that rescue birds and mammals after oil spills. The girls raised thousands of dollars through the generous support of FSHA families and the community,” Miller explained. “Another year, the girls built derby cars completely out of recycled materials and we raced them down the hill to the Student Activities Center. Last year, the girls did several fundraisers, including the first faculty pie-eating contest to raise money to buy solar lanterns to send to energy-poor nations. Since the girls get to decide what to do, the projects are different every year.”

Students in APES also take the AP exam at the end of the course. With a pass rate of 80 percent, FSHA students are well above the national average of 50 percent. “The pass rate is quite good given that we have a large contingent of girls and the criteria to take APES are selective. The subject matter is so interesting, so the results follow,” Miller said.

And even though the students had to rough it while performing the conservation work—there were no showers, no sinks, no electricity and one basic outhouse—all of them said they would definitely do it again. “I was able to see one of the most beautiful places on the earth. I was able to learn the history of the land and the evolution of such an amazingly beautiful habitat,” Dani said.

For more information about Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, visit www.fsha.org.

 

 

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