This past Wednesday, Mr. Harding’s Environmental Science class took a day-long trip to Red Top Mountain for a learning experience as a part of the entomology unit. The class collected insects to catalog from three land and one aquatic site, and then used the information they gathered to evaluate the quality of the water and soil, determine the overall health of the environment, and add a few additions to Walker’s entomology collection.

The class walked along four trails, where they split up into five small groups and examined the different locations for insect species. Each group spent an hour at every site.

Bailey Schreiner (12) and Kyle Goldstein (12) collected invertebrates from Lake Allatoona.

One group caught a small turtle which they brought back to the classroom and placed in a large fish tank alongside several goldfish and a crawfish. The crawfish is currently eating the goldfish, and Elani Sevilla (12) mentioned that the class is worried that it’s next victim will be the turtle. When asked if the Environmental Science class would continue this trip, Mr. Harding said “Feedback on the trip from our students was definitely positive, and I would love to do this trip again in the future, or at least one very similar.”