Posted by Connie Ferree on Thursday, 19 November 1998, at 4:04 p.m.
Greetings from the Plains in the USA!
Emporia High School is located in Emporia, Kansas, a small city of about 25,000 people in the eastern central half of state. Our latitude is 38° 24’ 14” East and our longitude is 96°10’ 53” West. Emporia is about 60 miles southwest of Topeka, the capital of Kansas and lies roughly halfway between Kansas City and Wichita.
There are approximately 1500 students in our school and we are culturally diverse. The students in our school are in grades 9-12. We have a one-floor building with two gymnasiums, a swimming pool, an auditorium, computer labs, science labs, a library and regular classrooms, many of the “open classroom” style. The school day runs from 8:00 am to 2:47 pm. We are on an 8 block schedule, with 4 classes per day each lasting 90 minutes. We also run zero block and nine block daily in 45-minute classes to handle our over-crowded condition. Our school also offers a wide variety of sports and activities.
The Chemistry I Classes and the Accelerated Chemistry Class (a total of about 100 students) are observing and monitoring a pond. The pond is located on the northeastern boundary of our school grounds. It used to be a farm pond prior to the construction of our building (completed in 1974). The pond is surrounded by trees and isolated from most roads, but civilization is rapidly closing in on it. This area of the city has become a prime building location. We are curious to see how land development around the pond will effect its health.
The Applied Biology and Chemistry Class will be testing two rivers that pass by Emporia. The Neosho River flows on the north side of Emporia and is our source of drinking water. The Cottonwood River flows along the southern edge of our city. Samples will be taken near the large Iowa Beef Processing Plant for testing. The treated waste water from Emporia is added to the Cottonwood River further downstream from the testing site. Both of these rivers have experienced flooding in the first week on November. This class will be comparing these rivers which travel through agricultural areas with rivers that do not have farming and livestock run-off.
We are looking forward to sharing and comparing results with you.
Sincerely, The students of Emporia High School Teachers: Connie Ferree and Marilyn McComber