Page 14 - Reedley Exponent 6-21-18 E-edition

ABOVE: Great Western Elemen- tary fourth-grader Mario Torres looks for decomposed insects and fungi with BioBlitz with Sam Weiser of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust.
Photo Contributed
RIGHT: Tim Holzem, a ranger for the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Service, visited with teacher Mary Ann Bumpas' fourth grade students on May 14 to talk about the BioBlitz before their May 21 trip to the Grant Grove area.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
BIOBLITZ
Continued from page B1
Holzem and Ranger Yoselin Gutierrez, Bumpas and her 30 students headed to the Grant Grove area in the mountains.
Other fourth-graders par- ticipating that day were Pera- les’ students, fourth-graders from Alta Elementary School and a group from Three Riv- ers.
Despite the chilly weath- er at the higher elevation, the students were happy to be there. For some, Bumpas said, it was their first visit to a national park.
“One of my little people who was working on some- thing, he looked at me and said, ‘This is beautiful,’” Bumpas said.
“They were just so thrilled about being up there and learning about everything around them and wanting to experience it all,” she said. “They were just so excited to find something.”
(What’s more, the fourth- graders could access a free pass for themselves and their families to any national park, lands and water for that school year. The program is called “Every Kid in a Park” and seeks to encourage young people to appreciate and sup- port these national sites. Go online to everykidinapark.gov for more information.)
On May 21, everything that the youngsters found was documented and would
The Reedley Drama Club held its final meeting
of the 2017-18 year in May with a luncheon session at the Bella Rose Bakery & Cafe in Kingsburg. Host- esses for the lun- cheon were Ginger Bull, Joyce Huebert and Pat Robertson. The Immanuel Chamber Singers, performing under director Rick Robbins, sang for the club members.
ABOVE: The final luncheon also included installing the new officers for 2018-19. They are (from left) Bethany Jost, treasurer; Mary Thonesen, secretary; Cheri Witter-Lawrence, president; and Connie Brooks, vice president.
Photo Contributed
The Reedley Exponent B8 Thursday, June 21, 2018
Drama Club officers
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become part of the BioBlitz’s vast data system.
Fourth-graders Lismarin Serrano and Romeo Peralta each said they had been to the mountains before, but that this experience also was memorable.
“What I enjoyed the most was finding a salamander un- der a rock,” Lismarin said. “It was like a peachish color and it had, I think, green legs.”
"We had magnifying glasses, and one of them was in a cup shape. And, you trapped the animal
in the cup ... and you could look through the magnifying glass to see the animal."
– Lismarin Serrano, fourth-grader at Great Western Elementary School
Romeo said he found a plant that others in the group didn’t recognize: “I found it near some logs and lots of trees. It was an open area ... It popped out from all the other flowers because of its color.”
With BioBlitz, the rangers, scientists and other adults use portable computer tablets and other devices and equipment to catalog everything the stu- dents found and observed.
Lismarin said: “We had magnifying glasses, and one
of them was in a cup shape. And, you trapped the animal in the cup ... and you could look through the magnifying glass to see the animal.”
Romeo said he used bin- oculars to watch for things that flew, and that he also spotted what he believed was a goat. He and Lismarin said the scientists were helpful in telling them about what they had seen. For example, they told Lismarin that the salamander she found would grow larger. When Romeo saw a bird drinking water from a stream, they told him it was a robin.
There was another part of BioBlitz that both students enjoyed – the tradition of a BioBlitz dance. The students knew it was coming because Rangers Holzem and Gutier- rez on May 14 had told them about it, shown them a video and then gotten them on their feet to try it out for them- selves.
It will be a while before Romeo and Lismarin have to decide what careers they may want to pursue. But Romeo said he might consider a ca- reer that involves what they learned through the BioBlitz because he enjoys being out- side.
Bumpas said the BioBlitz also encouraged students to make the connection between themselves and the national parks and lands, to understand they have ownership of those sites because, as she said Hol- zem pointed out, “it belongs to all of us.”
Tickets on sale for Maria Shriver speech
Tickets are on sale for the Central California Wom- en’s Conference that will feature keynote speaker Maria Shriver.
CCWC is the largest women’s event in the region and will be held Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the Fresno Con- vention & Entertainment Center. Shriver is a mother of four, an award-winning journalist, former First Lady of California, and founder of The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.
For details, visit ccwc- fresno.org
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