This week, English I Honors students and World Geography Honors students participated in the River Dynamics Experience, a hands-on activity sponsored by the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum (LASM) and Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). Students first traveled to the Center for River Studies, located on LSU's River Campus, to explore the giant three-dimensional map of the lower Mississippi used by scientists to study water flow, flooding, sediment diversion, and erosion. Here, our Crusaders saw video demonstrations of many of the strategies to save our coast that they have been studying in their English I Honors and World Geography Honors classes.

Next, the students traveled a few miles north to Baton Rouge's LASM to view a film on the dangers of losing our coast and to take part in a hands-on activity with a state-of-the-art stream table. With a live simulation, students could see how man-made structures, plant and tree growth, and levees affect the speed and direction of a river. Finally, the students enjoyed a picnic lunch on a Mississippi River overlook, allowing them to see first hand the majestic river that has built our delta and whose levees have made our coastline vulnerable. This field experience concludes these students' semester-long multidisciplinary study of coastal restoration efforts that began with their summer reading, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast by Mike Tidwell.