The Environmental Sciences Academy started in 2014 held its final program at Western on May 14. The school held a capstone event that allowed the students to display and talk about their final projects, which was a required part of the program. Each student had to identify a scientific question, propose a hypothesis, or explore a solution to an environmental issue in their projects.
Lucy McGrane decided to explore the therapeutic calming potential of holding a snake. Could it be similar to the positive mental effects that cats and dogs have on people? To measure the effects on body and mind, participants were asked to hold Saber, a ball python, for 15 minutes while heart and respiration rate were quantitatively measured. She saw positive results; perhaps we can expect snakes to play a bigger role in the future as part of mental health medicine.
Darby Ragsdale was the president of the Future Farmers of America at WAHS this year, the first year the school has had a FFA chapter since 1993. In her project, she compared hatching chickens at home on a small scale to large commercial operations. She came to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of both methods on the understanding of where our food comes from.
Amelia Schulz examined two different hydroponics systems for growing 12 different types of plants. While results from the systems differed, she found that hydroponics is a viable method of agricultural cultivation.
Caitlin Bernard focused on the depletion of underground aquifers and how the creation of impermeable surfaces reduces the amount of rainwater that can replenish them. She also looked at how families could collect rainwater for non-drinkable uses such as watering plants and to reduce water bills.
Robert Malcolm Powell conducted a series of on-site field surveys of fish populations in an urban versus a rural river in the local area. He found that urban pollution has impacted population sizes and diversity in the local aquatic ecosystems, finding a larger and more biodiverse fish population in the rural river. His surveys included examining trash found in the river. In one case he found a discarded tire in the urban waterway…