2013 Final Edition - St. Helen's Elementary School

The Searcher Page 5
Grade 7s “Sea” Stars in Bamfield
By Phoebe Cheung
Goals of the Bamfield
Marine Science Centre
• To inspire and
connect learners with
oceans.
• To increase ocean
literacy.
• To encourage
aspiring marine
scientists.
• To teach students
about marine biology.
BMSC
- Located on the West
side of Vancouver
Island.
- Home of the famous
“Whale Lab” which has
a touch tank and a real
whale skeleton.
- The Rix Centre:
named after Donald
Rix who donated close
to $1 million dollars “to
support BMSC as a
world-class research
and teaching facility to
inspire discovery,
innovation and
excellence in marine
and coastal sciences”.
This year, the Grade 7s got to go to Bamfield, like they do
every year, from April 3 rd to April 5 th . It was an incredible
and memorable trip for all of us. During the three fun-filled
days at Bamfield, we learnt a lot of things about marine
biology. For students that were interested in marine biology,
it was a great experience of what it is like.
On the way there, we took a walk on the Cathedral
Trail. We got to saw many trees that were over 800 years old!
After a long and bumpy bus ride, we finally arrived at
Pachena Beach to have lunch. From there, we started on our
West Coast Trail hike. We walked only a small portion of it,
but it was still very exciting. There were ladders going up and
down so we had to be really careful. When we finished, we
took the bus and went to the Bamfield Marine Sciences
Centre. Once we settled down, we went to our first classes.
Some students went down to the docks and some went to paint
a t-shirt. We wrapped up the day by celebrating Marcus’
birthday.
On the second day, we also went to some more classes,
but in the afternoon, we went to the other side of Bamfield to
study some tide pools. We explored what we saw in it and did
a little presentation on it. Some students rapped and some
sang. Even though it was raining a little, we still had a great
time learning about tide pools. Finally on the third day, we
had some classes in the morning and then went back home.
Although we were sad to leave Bamfield, we were also happy
to see our family again.
In my opinion, I think that the best part of Bamfield
was when we went whale watching. Some groups got a
glimpse of whales and some groups spotted sea lions. Other
parts of Bamfield were very exciting as well. Even though it
was only a three day trip, it felt like a long, but fun, trip. We
learnt many things about marine biology and we hope that the
future Grade 7 students will experience the same when they
go to Bamfield.