SB Middle School Submerged in Ecological Thought

The trip was the focal point of months of study that began with research projects in the classroom on topics ranging from the island fox and global fisheries, to marine kelp forests and plastics in our ocean. This interactive unit culminated this fall with a visit from author TC Boyle, whose latest novel When the Killing’s Done was set in the Channel Islands National Park. The students read Boyle’s novel in English class. Central to the novel is the debate between the animal rights activists and the ecologists, whose opposing arguments encompass the controversy over an invasive species that thrives on the Channel Islands.

Though the students are too young to remember this hot-button ecological topic from local news headlines several years ago, they were able to visit many of the literary, political and ecological locations which they had studied in their classes, and had read about in TC Boyle’s novel during their recent expedition to the islands.

On the first morning of the trip, students awoke half way across the channel on board the Conception, a locally owned and operated dive boat. Eating breakfast upstairs in the galley, students watched a large pod of pinnipeds also enjoying their breakfast at sea. Later that day, the seafaring students dropped anchor in Cuyler’s Harbor near San Miguel Island, and it wasn’t long before the deserted beach was filled with curious students and teachers. Hiking along the hillside, they passed many of the endemic plant species the students had recently studied in class. At the top of the hill they sat next to the Cabrillo’s monument and discussed the convergence of the old world and new world politics, and how this pivotal moment in history shaped our culture.