Artful Alabama: Field Studies in America's Amazon

It is a unique experience for students to be able to handle rare or endangered species. Not only are their locations usually kept secret, but it carries a penalty of up to $10,000 and jail time. Fortunately for Ardmore's Naturalist Studies kids, they are protected with the proper permits as they participate in two separate projects: one for Hudson Alpha's Bicentennial Barcoding initiative and one for a university collection. These lucky students got to see and handle some of the really cool plants that they had studied about in preparation for this field study. The students are helping Hudson Alpha with their goal of genetically cataloging Alabama's native plants. Janice Barrett of Wildsouth is our community liaison for the project and accompanied us to various locations throughout Lawrence and Morgan counties. Students collected a small sample of the plant and recorded information such as GPS coordinates, who collected it and the date. The samples will be sent off for ...

Today, Ardmore’s Naturalist Studies program students finished up their 16 hour WFA course with a rescue scenario at Harvest Square Nature Preserve. Priority Medical went all out for this practice exercise, with realistic makeup for the actors and planned equipment failures (such as problems with the short range radios). The students had no idea that some Ardmore teachers were volunteering as victims in the scenario, so when they found Mrs. Tammy Hilliard and Ms. Elizabeth Hilliard wounded from a lightning strike incident, it was a bit shocking. The kids had to stay calm and work through complicated logistical issues while tending to the patients and transporting them to safety. They did a fantastic job working as a team. I would feel safe having these students help me in an emergency! At the end, we went back to the fire station and the students got to experiment with the equipment. They even got a short ride in the fire truck. This was a great learning experience for all involve...