Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 08:47

Hey Cameo,  its me Ricky Campbell from Jillian Worrsam's eighth grade class in Flagstaff, Arizona. What do you think it will be like in the Antarctic when you get there? Do you think it will be really could there? Its getting coulder here I know that. So how is your project going on the ship? We tested our pond for E-coli and it came up positive. Two people in our class fell in that water too. They smelt awful after that, so I drenched them to ward off the smell. We made a sediment trap to catch sediment samples in the pond. We're hoping to put it in the water today because it has to be in there for twenty-four hours.

Jillian rented a boat for a month so we can go into the pond. To measure the depth of over sixteen areas of the pond. We discovered that the deapest the pond is is a little over three meters.

                                                                                   your pen pal,

                                                                                   Ricky Campbell

Cameo Slaybaugh

Hi Ricky -
How is my pen pal doing? 

It will definitely be cold in Antarctica.  I live in Virginia and the weather is very mild.  It is over 70⁰F here and sunny.  We hardly ever get any snow.  If it snows 1/2 inch, then they close school.  What we do have to worry about are hurricanes.  The whole area is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.  I live right on the beach which is usually awesome.  However, when a hurricane hits, my area is always evacuated and the beach gets totally eroded.  There was a big hurricane about five years ago and it was incredible to watch and very dangerous. 
 Our robot (her name is S.A.R.A.) is coming along.  We are trying to get it finished by Monday because I am taking my students camping for three days next week and we want to test S.A.R.A. in the pond and in the river at the park we are going to.  We are also going on a haunted hayride.  I can't wait.
Your adventures in the pond near your school sound incredible.  You are learning so much and having a blast doing it.  Ms. Worssam is a really nice teacher that understands the importance of getting hands-on experience.  Congress just passed a bill called "No Child Left Inside" which supports taking students outside into the environment to teach them science.  It seems that Ms. Worssam is ahead of the law.
I can't wait to hear what all you do in school this year.  It's great having a pen pal like you.
Talk to you soon.
Cameo :)