Jessica Richards, maritime educator for Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region, shows students a channel catfish abroad the Half Shell.
Living Classrooms of National Capital Region partner with ‘Let’s Move!’ for field trip on the Potomac River
By Albert C. Jones
America, The Diversity Place
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — This morning brings together Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region, including students from District of Columbia Public Schools and Daniels Run Elementary School of the Fairfax County Public Schools.
The 300 students from the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland are guests of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” healthy living initiative: “America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids.”
About “Let’s Move!” they say, “Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40 percent of the children are overweight or obese.
“If we don’t solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer or asthma.”
Students, their teachers and parents are here at the National Harbor for a day in the study of marine biology, a science excursion aboard the Half Shell or Mildred Belle and what scientists experience monitoring life species in the Potomac River habitat. Teachable moments will come aboard the historic Half Shell, a buy-boat once used by middle men involved in Chesapeake Bay commerce.
In their day, buy-boats motored to fishermen on the bay to purchase oyster catches and then delivered products to wholesalers en route to the marketplace, eventually selected by consumers, restaurants and processors.
Nowadays the Half Shell is a floating classroom. Marine educators, they say, “teach hands-on science to youth in the District of Columbia metropolitan area during day and overnight trips on the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, as well as the Chesapeake Bay.” Today, these students are day-trippers.
By no means is the National Harbor to be confused with a rustic romp with nature. It is an aesthetic experience for sure, results of a strategically planned, mixed-use waterfront development on the shores of the Potomac River.
The newness of it all, with a convention center, hotels, gourmet restaurants, trendy retail shopping and upscale condominiums, has the ambiance of a new edge city. Additional development is planned for these prime 300 acres in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
National Harbor, this morning, is also hosting 300 anglers for the Fourth Annual Nation’s River Bass Tournament on the Potomac River. These anglers come with bass boats designed for speed. Imagination allows seeing these boats hydroplaning at top speed.
Tournament organizers offer media photo opportunities on the river in the National Guard’s two-seat Ranger 250 horsepower bass boat. The National Guard is among sponsors of the event, along with Walmart and, among others, including energy supplier Pepco.
“Living Classrooms is one of the best programs for young people in our region and we have been enthusiastic supporters for several years,” says Wes McNealy, director of Environmental Services at Pepco. “They get kids outside having fun while providing a valuable educational experience in and about our precious natural resources. Their focus on improving the health of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers aligns perfectly with our own commitment to the environment where we and our customers live and work.”
Today’s field trip is a partnership with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Sportfishing Association, the Congressional Sportsmen Foundation, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin and FLW Outdoors, the premier tournament fishing organization.
The thrill ride in the National Guard bass boat is bypassed to join students, marine educators and Capt. Andrew aboard the Half Shell. Lori Huberman Hayes, science technology resource teacher at Daniels Run, along with several parents, have brought a group of students from the school located in nearby Fairfax, Virginia.
Mission of the Living Classrooms Foundation and science technology at Daniels Run are reciprocal. The Baltimore and Washington-based non-profit educational organization offers “a distinctive competency in experiential learning.” Students literally learn by direct experience or what the organization says is “learning by doing.” Living Classrooms began in 2001 and has grown to serve more than 40,000 young people a year through various programs.
Conversely, every student at Daniels Run is scheduled time in the science technology lab. The high-tech lab is “equipped with a Smartboard and 29 laptops to do hands-on, inquiry-based activities to support the Virginia Science Standards of Learning.”
They say, “We also have a courtyard vegetable/herb garden to address the Life Science SOL’s along with an extensive outdoor area we call the Living Classroom, including a pollinator garden, sponge garden, constructed wetland and much more.”
This morning, there is more than just one captain aboard the Half Shell. Children clamor around superhero-looking Captain Kilowatt, who is portrayed by Kenny Green, a staff member in Pepco’s Environmental Services group. Among the onshore exhibits displayed under canvas canopies is the “Captain Kilowatt” interactive video game, which challenges players to eliminate the ‘Energy Goblins’ in their homes.
Living Classrooms operates two marine vehicles, the Half Shell and Mildred Belle, up and down the Potomac River, Anacostia River and on the Chesapeake Bay. Jessica Richards is the lead maritime educator this morning on the Half Shell. Richards gathers Ms. Hayes’ students on the concrete dock and explains boat protocols, including the urgency of following safety rules. Children put on life vests and march single-file onto the Half Shell.
After launch, Richards gives a brief history of buy-boats and then explains how research, collecting data on species, helps keep the river healthy. After being instructed, students form a line and help toss a net into the river. After several minutes of drawling, the net is pulled back into the boat. The catch includes a channel catfish that Richards retrieves from the net, shows off to students in gloved hands and then passes it around in a container of river water for close-up inspection by her captive audience.
Species common to the river that could have been caught in the net but were not this morning include “eel, shad, bluegill, brown trout, carp, largemouth bass, sunfish, pumpkinseed , rainbow trout, red ear sunfish , smallmouth bass, striped bass, white and yellow perch.”
Less than an hour out, the Half Shell heads back to shore. Two fish and wildlife biologists amaze students and spectators, showing off a blue catfish that weighs 40 to 60 pounds. Blue catfish are not native to the Potomac River. Blue catfish, biologists say, came by way of the Mississippi River drainage.
Record blue catfish weigh over 102 pounds. The one biologists are showing off will be eventually tossed back into the river.
Good time had is the report that came from Daniels Run.
“The students had such a great time and learned so much,” Ms. Hayes says in an email. “For some of the students, it was their very first boat ride. What a great day!”
Students become shipmates as Jessica Richards, maritime educator for Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region, instructs on how to drop a net into the river.