We woke up on our last day and immediately started bustling around packing up. It actually reminded me a bit of college. We spent all that time working hard with great people, calling those close quarters home, and now it was time to part ways. It seemed we were excited to go home to our families and familiar places, but were also sad to be ending the trip. The packing up process was interesting; there was stuff everywhere! Every time I took a lap around the boat, I found a stray item that was mine. With everyone running in every direction, I was astounded when we all were actually able to meet for our group photo in front of the ship before she left. We said goodbye to the crew and gave them the thank you flag we made for them. I’m sure they were happy to have their ship back after it was commandeered by a bunch of amateurs. :)
We made our way over to the aquarium and settled in with our groups for some last minute fine-tuning of our projects and adjusting to our land legs. That rocking sensation on land was such an odd experience. Looking around the room, I smiled noting how far we all came this week. We went from being nervous strangers to being a close, almost family-like, community. The smiles on my peers’ faces were also paired with exhaustion. We’ve been so busy, the arrival of our research presentations was a universal welcomed event. The Lake Superior NERR group of teachers along with some area scientists also joined us for the presentations. It was fun to see everyone’s presentations. I was familiar with what they were working on, but it was fun to see all the pieces come together. Our final activity was brainstorming how we could use what we experienced this week in our classrooms. With a few final pictures and hugs, we then said goodbye.
The end of a journey… always bitter sweet. I think back to what I initially wondered about the trip. Our mission was to survey a multitude of stations along the South Shore of Lake Superior including the mouths of the St. Louis, Ontonagon, and Bad River. We teamed up with scientists to help them collect data for their extended research projects and conducted our own. We filtered water samples (chlorophyll), used a rosette sampler (water quality dynamics), plankton net, ponar sampler (bottom sample), manta trawl (plastics), and Tucker Trawl (isotopes in larval fish). I lived on a 180x40’ ship with ~30 other people, happily shared a ~6x11’ room with 2 other while 6 of us total shared the bathroom, and had every food I could ever want available to me at every hour of the day and night. I also experienced Lake Superior like I never have before. We glided through her crystal-calm seas, were thrown about in her waves, and were dazzled by her sunsets while we investigated her dynamic waters.
I also met some of the finest people I may ever meet. The caliber of teachers and scientists that I was privileged to work with this week will always stick with me. We started a facebook page so that we could remain a community and I hope to tap into those resources again in the future as well as call them my friends. I am saddened sitting here alone without the rocking waves or hum of the engine. I already miss the community I was so honored to be a part of and the ship we called home.
I need to remember that this is not the end of a journey, but just the beginning. All of our fires have been fueled by the excitement of the Lake Guardian. As an educator at Great Lakes Aquarium, I’d like to take our lake lab class apart and focus on the details of the lake dynamics. What we measure tells us so much about the happenings of the water. I have ideas about sampling plankton, quantifying the water, identifying them at least to their taxa, watching them migrate in class, and what it all means! Focusing on the bigger picture is key and I’m going to use the resources available to me. I have a new appreciation for sampling everything I physically can and I want to share it with children. I’m also looking forward to building an intricate lake-focused connection with area schools like Nettleton Elementary. I want o be a part of bringing the lake to the students and providing them with every resource I can.
I want to thank MN Sea Grant, COSEE, and EPA for inviting me to join this trip. I am so profoundly honored to have participated in this journey. I want to thank Dr. Joel Hoffman, Dr. Greg Boyer, and Dr. Ashley Moerke for mentoring us and taking the time away from your own research to make us feel welcome and competent with your equipment. I want to thank the community of partner scientists that introduced us to your work. Thank you, Lake Guardian staff, for guiding the ship and your patients with us when we were talking too loud and slamming doors. Thank you, Lisa, for your amazing cooking! I was blown away at every meal… and so was the top button of my pants. :) Thank you, Great Lakes Aquarium for sending me on this trip and providing us with meeting space. I know our curriculum will benefit from it. Last, but not least, I want to thank the teachers I worked with. Janet, John, Lori S. D., JoAnn, Paul, Mark, Sara, June, Cindy B., Lynn, Sandy, Lori W., Jim, and Diane, thank you for the laughs we shared, memories we made, and the tremendous teamwork you all contributed to. This trip will always be with me.
Since it was our last day, cameras and computers were packed up and we were all anxious to wrap up so I wasn’t able to nab any new pictures for today's post. Instead, I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures of the open waters. [Good news: My camera was found in Houghton, MI and is in transit to Duluth as we speak. What a relief!]
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