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Newsroom |
| February 16, 2006 MOORESTOWN FRIENDS STUDENTS TO TRAVEL TO NEW ORLEANS, NICARAGUA AND EVERGLADES FOR WEEK-LONG “INTENSIVE LEARNING” MOORESTOWN – Moorestown Friends School students will travel to New Orleans, rural Nicaragua, Mexico, the Florida Everglades and other locations to perform community service work as part of a week-long “Intensive Learning” program in March. All fifth-graders through high school seniors take part in the special Intensive Learning program, which takes place this year from March 3 through noon on March 10. The Intensive Learning program has been a school tradition for almost 30 years, as each grade in the Middle and Upper School experiences an in-depth exploration of a specific subject as viewed from a number of academic disciplines. The “normal” routine of class periods is suspended for the experience, allowing students to take overnight field trips, complete hands-on projects and engage in other activities that apply what they have learned. Juniors this year will perform community service in five locations. Students chose the placement they would undertake. As part of the school’s commitment to service learning, the students will not only complete the work, but also will discuss the causes that generate the need for the aid and reflect on possible solutions. Fifteen juniors, accompanied by three teachers, will work for Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans as part of the organization’s “Collegiate Challenge” to help rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina. They will sleep in churches, prepare their own meals, and work during the day at Habitat sites. Seven students and two teachers will travel to rural Nicaragua where they will build a preschool in a Hurricane Mitch resettlement camp. The group includes one senior, one junior, a freshman and four sophomores. They will also visit rural community schools in the area, interview students and teachers and will meet a representative of the Ministry of Education in El Viejo, Nicaragua to learn how the country teaches the disabled and street kids. Going to the Florida Everglades will be 18 students and three teachers. They will help restore the Everglades National Park, which sustained major damage during Hurricane Wilma in October. After learning about local flora and fauna (including alligators, snakes and poisonous plants) through hikes and canoe trips, they will help park rangers restore the research facility where they will work to restore native plant species to southern Florida. Evening activities will include speakers, movies and discussions about environmental justice issues in southern Florida. Twelve students and two teachers will travel to Mexico, marking a decade that MFS students have performed spring community service in that country. Included in the group will be two freshmen, four sophomores, five juniors and a senior – four of which went on previous trips, including a senior who has been on each Mexico trip all four years of Upper School. They will work in the small ranching community of El Cordon and plan to improve the village’s access to a continuous supply of drinking water by laying the foundation for a new cistern. A fourth group of 17 juniors and two teachers will aid in maintenance and preparation for the spring launch of the A.J. Meerwald, the official tall ship of New Jersey. They will work with the Bay Shore Discovery Project in Bivalve, N.J. A fifth group of students will aid local animal shelters and pet adoption agencies. They will assist with cleaning and site maintenance, as well as providing human interaction with adoptable cats and dogs. Additional Intensive Learning topics, by grade level are: Fifth Grade: Lost and Found – Mysteries of the Past. Students will study how archaeologists work and think, what basic archaeological information looks like, how archaeologists analyze data, and how historians draw conclusions about a culture based on archaeological evidence. They will read ancient literature and scientific articles, re-create mosaics and Greek art, and analyze remains. One project will be making a quilt based on the House of The Faun in Pompeii, Italy. The week will culminate with the excavation of ancient cultures (digs that student groups have created) and a presentation of their findings to the class. To aid in their understanding of archeology, they will travel to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and to Independence National Park. Sixth Grade: Zoo Design. They will visit the Cape May and Bronx zoos for behind-the-scenes tours to examine buildings and equipment not normally displayed to zoo visitors. They are studying the spatial and economic constraints of zoo design, zoo animal care, captive management, breeding and species survival plans. During the trip to the world -famous Bronx Zoo, students touring Gorilla World will have an opportunity to discover the destructive spiral that logging, deforestation, habitat destruction, and poaching can have on animal species in the jungle. The Cape May Zoo trip will showcase the very different dynamics of a small zoo and how it must scale its operations to meet the needs of its animals and their visitors. Students will design and construct zoo models that recreate the habitat of each animal within the zoo while balancing that animal’s needs with the needs of zoos as institutions to maintain public interest and support. Members of each zoo team also will produce brochures with poems to accompany their exhibits. An “Animal Poetry Slam” at the end of the week will feature readings of the students’ work. Seventh Grade: Theater Production. In one fast-paced week, students will present a musical comedy – memorizing lines, developing blocking and mastering all aspects of staging including costumes, sets and lights. This year, they will present “The Universe and Other Stuff” by Stephan Murray, a musical history that presents a fresh perspective on the origins of the universe and its inhabitants, at 7 p.m. Thurs., March 14. Eighth Grade: New Jersey Environment. Students will explore land preservation, responsible use of natural resources and the influence that man has had on his nature. Students will attend workshops at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and the Academy of Natural Sciences, as well as experience a three-day outdoor field study at YMCA Camp Mason. One day will focus exclusively on the New Jersey Pinelands. A representative from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance will come out to share information regarding this local region at risk. Finally, students will take part in two service projects, one at MFS and one at Camp Mason, offering students an opportunity to put into action the new appreciation that they will have gained during their week. Ninth Grade: Philadelphia History and Culture. Students will explore the impact of immigration, religious freedom, industry, migration and community activism on diversity in the city of Philadelphia. Students will contrast the original ideal of Philadelphia as a city and its current reality. Sites visited include the Seaport Museum, Christ Church, Reading Terminal Market, Chinatown, neighborhood murals and the neighborhoods of Old City, Kensington, Germantown and West Philadelphia. Tenth Grade: Robotics, Communications and Marketing. The students will work in small groups to design and build a robot using Lego Mindstorms. They will then develop an ad campaign for the robot, including a logo design and ads for print and video. A field trip will include an orienteering course, where the focus will be on appropriate communications. Twelfth Grade: The Out-Of-Doors. Members of the Class of 2006 will have a three-day stay at YMCA Camp Mason through exercises such as community service projects and trust-building exercises including a high and low ropes course. Students will participate in a scavenger hunt on a college campus and make a video that will be shown at their 10th reunion. NOTE TO EDITORS,
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