By Lindsay Newfeld
On Sept 20th, in the glare of the early morning sunlight, most of Tempe Prep’s freshman class was climbing onto the bus that would take them seven hours away to beautiful Long Beach, California. When they arrived in Long Beach, the class toured the great Aquarium of the Pacific, celebrating the planet’s largest and most diverse body of water: the Pacific Ocean.
From there, the class traveled a short distance to the battleship USS Iowa where they participated in STEM activities, ate on the mess decks, and slept overnight in the original berthing areas of Iowa’s sailors. The next morning, a two-hour ferry ride brought the students to Catalina Island, where they participated in the Catalina Island Marine Institute’s three-day program on Toyon Bay.
Ms. Moffitt, a chaperone and one of the main organizers of the trip, said they “were looking for a trip that would provide a meaningful academic science experience and a chance for a new high school class to bond.” It was actually Ms. Tobin, another central organizer of the trip, who found the Catalina Island Marine Institute.
For many students, this was a first-time experience and all who attended enjoyed the trip. Natasha Webb-Villegas, 9B, said her favorite parts of the trip were “snorkeling, because you could see everything beneath you and there were some really cool fish, and the night hike because you could clearly see the stars and the moon.”
Aimee Cheng, a sophomore who had the opportunity to attend the trip because of her participation in Tempe Prep’s SAT Biology test prep class, said her favorite experience was “night snorkeling on the second day of the trip. Everything looked so different at night and we found a baby octopus and saw some glow-in-the-dark plankton.”
Ms. Moffitt is an advocate of on-site learning and this trip provided an invaluable learning experience. She said, “The science was outstanding and the history of the battleship was fascinating.”
This was also a great chance for the freshman class to bond, since all electronics were banned from the trip. This meant actual face-to-face interaction and conversation was necessary. Regardless of the ban on electronics, this field trip was an experience that this class will always have and the memories made will last forever. With the positive experiences and great learning opportunities, the Catalina Island trip is definitely on its way to becoming a Tempe Prep tradition.