Rivers and Streams Field Day

Comet photo by Kevin Schnepp

Liquid lab

Science students from Delphi Community High School test water samples from Deer Creek and the Wabash River. The study was part of Rivers and Streams Field Day, an English-science-agriculture event held in the fall and spring each school year as weather allows. During the event DCHS Water Watchers collected biological and soil samples from the local waterways. Science teacher Kirk Janowiak said tests were performed in Deer Creek at Riley Park and just before its junction with the Wabash River. The Wabash was studied near the same junction and upriver at Bicycle Bridge. Janowiak said bacteria levels are typically higher than other waterways due to run-off from farms, but students attained good results. "They did an admirable job of learning how to do much of the testing while we were on site," Janowiak commented. He added there was no evidence of additional input of coliform bacteria, produced by domestic animals, from the city or from the waste water treatment facilty. "That has always been the case over the last 12 years," he explained. "And good news (that it was not detected)."

Comet photo by Kevin Schnepp

The thinkers

"Breathe," a poem by Delphi Community High School student Matt Keen: "As I sit here on the edge, with my eyes closed and my ears alert, I hear all the sounds that nature gives to us; she gives us the gentle sound of wind, rushing water down the hill; the birds make their song, crickets chirp in the weeds; She calls to us; Her voice is mesmerizing; She just wants to sit beside you; Soak in all she has done, and just breathe." Advanced Composition students from Delphi Community High School contemplated their surroundings while sitting among trees at Sunset Point in Trailhead Park south of Delphi. English teacher Pat Brettnacher's class took part in a Rivers and Streams Field Day along with science and agriculture students last week. As part of the day's activities, composition students strolled along trails between Deer Creek and the Wabash River and wrote about the experience. They also picked up trash for extra credit according to a press release written by student Derek Rector. Another student, Matt Meek, wrote a reflection on Deer Creek's animal life which noted the behavior of a crayfish.