Wiregrass Ranch High School AP Environmental Science class took a field trip to the Pasco county Energy and Marine Center (EMC) on Wednesday, September 25th.  The EMC is a popular place for Pasco schools to take field trips as it allows students to have a hands-on experience with the environment that can relate to lessons they are working on in class.

“I am fascinated by aquatic ecosystems and the fact that the Energy and Marine Center is owned and operated by Pasco County Schools makes this an easy, yet super engaging and memorable, field trip,” AP Environmental Science teacher Brandon Anglin said.

On this trip, the students went into the shallow water and used seine nets to examine the biodiversity in the water. They then got their gloves on and broke oysters to find all the organisms living inside, then separated them into different groups. Once they finished these activities, students went kayaking around the EMC and were able to fully explore the facility.

“This trip allowed me to see the course in the real world and see how the things we learn can transfer over,” Senior Cassidy Hudson said. “We did a lab on biodiversity in class, but actually collecting organisms on the field trip allowed me to see what we learned in class first hand.”

Junior Diana Hernandez realized the important role humans play on the environment during the field trip.

“This field trip made me understand how we are related to even the smallest part in nature, and how important it is to understand the benefits of taking care of different ecosystems,” Hernandez explained.

Anglin hopes that this field trip will not only benefit students from the hands-on experience related to their current lessons, but also come test time in May.

“Students will even use their learning from this field trip to help them study and prepare for their AP exam at the end of the year, as the EMC gives them so many real world examples of the content they see in their book,” Anglin explained.