Hello! We are the 10th grade Honors Biology class of Austin High School in the town of Austin, Minnesota. Austin has a population of about 22,000 and is located in Mower County, which is in southeastern Minnesota. Since Minnesota is known as the land of 10, 000 lakes, you would think that we would be surrounded by water. However, Mower County is the only county in Minnesota without a natural lake. We are conducting our water analysis on the Cedar River which flows through Austin.
Austin is often considered a rural farming community, but we were put on the map by being the hometown of Hormel Foods (hence the nickname "Spamtown, USA"). Hormel is the largest business in our town and most other businesses revolve around Hormel. Other businesses include Weyerhauser (a packaging company) and a medical center associated with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, which is just 45 minutes away. Austin has a small airport (which none of us have ever actually used) and it is the only Austin has prospered in the last couple of years, this is evident by the new businesses and restaurants that have found their home in Austin.
There are about 358 students in the sophomore class of Austin High School.
Our school itself is quite large and was recently remodeled thanks to a
generous donation from Hormel Foods. We have a large stadium, which is
home to the Austin Packers. We have a school with many social activities
included in and apart from the high school. Some of our extra-curricular
activities include a wide variety of sports, a speech team, a debate team,
mock trial, DECA, AFS, FFA, Spanish Club, CHOICE, Art Club, Knowledge Bowl
Team and Math League, among others. This provides us with many opportunities
to be involved in something we enjoy. Some of the things we do for fun
include bowling, going to the mall or to the movies, or going out to eat.
We also spend time in our many parks and an expansive nature center sponsored
by Hormel.