This school year, a new science class was formed from what used to be Advanced Biology, called Environmental Science. In this class, they are focusing on understanding the environment and working at the OWLS site. This class has eight students and is being taught by Chris Bellar. 

“I enjoy being outside and I like working at the OWLS site,” junior Delaney Jones said. 

This semester, the students are doing a bird study. This involves extra work outside the classroom, such as going outside to find birds and trying to properly identify them. 

“We use binoculars and the bird books Mr. Bellar gave us to identify birds,” junior Hayden Frederick said. 

On Sept. 11, Bellar took the students on a field trip to go bird watching. They stopped at various locations on the way to one of their main stops, the Arboretum in Belle Plaine. 

The Arboretum had several species of birds for the students to find. While there, students saw around nine species and were given a tour of the Arboretum. 

“I liked the variety of plants there and how well it was put together,” junior Sophy Dalbom said. 

In total, the group saw 45 different species of birds. According to Bellar, they set the record for how many species have been spotted on the annual trip (previously taken by Advanced Biology). 

“(My favorite bird was) the bald eagle because you don’t see those every day, and we saw six of them,” Dalbom said. “They’re also one of my favorite birds.”