Newsroom

Tabb High's Club Earth Adventures

Tabb High School's Club Earth had a successful year recycling paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and aluminum cans! Students volunteered to collect recyclables from all classrooms and hallway receptacles on a weekly basis. This made a significant impact on the school's carbon footprint.

According to the EPA, recycling one plastic bottle will save enough energy to run a computer for 25 minutes or keep a 60-watt light bulb lit for six hours! Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run your television for three hours.

Students from Tabb High's Club Earth celebrated the successful year by accepting a challenge to learn more about our local Chesapeake Bay and how human actions impact the environment. The Virginia Living Museum hosted 24 students as they explored the salt marsh, maritime forest, beach and sea grass meadows around Grandview Nature Preserve. First, students collected samples of plant and animals from the piers. Specimens were identified and studied in the field. There were shrimp, fish, jellies, amphipods, isopods and it was a special delight to find an immature American Eel right next to the pier!

Students then moved on to study the salt marsh. There they found many species of grasses and shrubs. They found saltwort to be very salty when nibbled on! They discussed the adaptations of the plants and animals which live in the marsh and the important part the marsh plays in the protection of land from storms and erosion.

Students continued their adventure by boarding canoes and traveling to Grandview Nature Preserve. They seined, analyzed water chemistry, considered the diversity of life in our Bay and the impact human activity has on the diversity of species. It was exciting to find so many types of fish, mollusks, jellies and sponges and to be serenaded by the local birds. Students recognized how fortunate we are to have a national treasure such as the Chesapeake Bay right in our backyard! Everyone agreed that we all have a responsibility to preserve and protect it.