Research and Careers

Betsy- Chaperone

Yesterday was a great day. We all got to actually participate in a real research project that is going on right here on the Teton Science School campus. They are surveying the plant and animal communities for a forest thinning project being undertaken by the National Park Service. The girls got to go out in the field and collect raw data by identifying, counting and measuring all the different kinds of plants in several different plots around campus. This kind of a survey will go on every year here for the forseeable future, and the results will be used to help scientists figure out how forest thinning affects the "locals". Girl Scouts will be able to go to the TSS website to see results that they helped produce.

Our evening program was a career program with four professional women talking about their careers which all had to do with the out of doors. It included a women who is a professional in theatre (specifically ecodrama), a woman who is a National Park Ranger at Grand Teton, a woman who manages the campus here at TSS and a woman who is a guide for the Wyoming Global Leadership Exchange. they were all passionate and personable and the girls had very good questions for them.

Ayana, GSCGNY

Dear mommy and all my people on the east coast,

Everything is going great we’re having so much fun experiencing these beautiful views and activities. We’ve seen so many bison they’re like a normal thing now. We had lunch watching the bison try and mate and it was so funny. The instructors are great and they work us hard but it’s all worth it. I’ve hike about 2 or 3 miles so far maybe more it’s hard to count but I’m having fun. For the first time I really miss everyone back home. I took some great pics of the views. I wish all yall could be here cause it is so much fun. Tell grandma I miss her and Jeri I said all is well. Tell everyone at grandma’s church I said hi and if godmommy or goddaddy I say I love them. Tell daddy also I love him. I hope all is well in the east cause all is well out here in the west!

LOVE YOU EVERYONE,
Ayana

P.S. I have new nicknames. MAMA NANA, NANA, BANANANANA, AND NANI LOL :-*

KELLY Today we went down to breakfast. Then we went to a rock hill passing many bison and little bison babies. They were so cute. Once at the rock pile, we learned that the Tetons used to be underwater 570 million years ago. The Tetons were also formed not by two plates crashing together and pushing the earth up like most mountain ranges, but a fault line that caused earthquakes and caused one part of the ground to rise up and the other part to go down. They are also considered new mountains because they were born 90 million years ago. Then we went up on the rock pile in search of fossils to prove there was once an ocean here. We found A LOT of fossils. Then we made a timeline. It was amazing to see how cramped together everything formed in the Tetons at the end from the beginning of the earth. Then we went to the Moose visitor center which had a cool 3D map of Teton National Park. After that we went to a forest to look for signs of elk. We found many. The elk are becoming over populated due to the fact that man took away their natural predators; the wolf and replaces it badly.. Then we went to another forest to see succession. We saw lodge pole pines getting succeeded by sub-alpine firs. Then we learned about the different layers of a forest; canopy, sub-canopy, shrub, herbaceous. We also learned that Lodge Pole Pines are fire dependent. We saw a old house on another side of the river from where everyone else used to live. He made a lot of money because he could charge high prices for his ferry because it was the only way to cross the river that wouldn’t take months. Then we went to the Snake River. It was very low but had a nice mountain reflection. Then we learned about beavers. I felt bad for Pam. She was layered up like a beaver in 900 heat and couldn’t even go in the water. We then came back to TSS. We had dinner. Then we did a project to help with our back home project. Me and Ivy worked on our Silver Award.

Lina - East River two (I’m a bad Girl Scout, I don’t know my own council’s full name… I think…) - Merry Christmas in July everyone! I feel like I should talk about what wonderful things we’ve been learning, but I don’t feel like talking about that because you can just ask your daughter/sister when she returns from Wyoming what we did. I’m here to tell you about all the wonderful candid moments/ absolute insane madness that’s truly going on “behind the scenes” and all the other random things that have happened. And if I jump back and fourth, sorry. Things just happen. … I feel like a reporter….
At the moment we are in the main lodge, just after dinner, and the majority of the girls are participating in “Wildlife Wonders: American Talent”. The most recent performance was by Ayana, who captivated the judges with her singing of “Reflection” from the Cheetah Girls 2 movie. There has also been a live performance of many girls singing A Mysterious Ticking Sound from the Harry Potter Puppet Pals. Which pretty much everyone has at least learned the ending chant and has been singing loudly the whole week. “I’m Harry Potter, Harry, Harry Potter, Singing a song, all day long at HOGWARTS~!” (For those who wanted to know.) It’s really funny watching Catherine be Paula and Skye be Simon… one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. So now Brigid, Ivy and Julie are singing a song that Brigid taught the girls in Ginger’s van/Ann’s group, it’s One Tin Solider by Coven. So don’t be surprised if we all come back singing it.
Yesterday we where able to choose different topics to learn more about and get some hands on experience with everything that related to the topic. The topics were the Forest Fires (which was a hike), viewing Wildlife and Water Ecology (which was my group). So on top of learning how to judge if a water body is healthy, the animals that depend on it and the harsh 1 day life of a fully mature Mayfly, we also were able to play Camouflage. In Camouflage, there is one predator who must stay in one place the whole game and call out the names of their prey (the girls hiding). First they’ll shout “Camouflage!” and everyone starts to run very frantically for a place to hide, then after a second or two they’ll close their eyes and count down from fifteen. At one they start to look for anyone hiding badly enough to seen. The trick is they have to be completely sure about which girl they’re calling out and their exact location. The girls they successfully call out become predators as well. If there are any remaining girls they’ll count from 10 (and every prey must move closer to the predator), call girls out, hold up a number that the prey must see in order to win and call out any girls they see peeking. Then they’ll count down from 5 and the prey will quickly have to choose if they want to risk being exposed and try to run up and tag a predator a say the number. Or they could choose to remain in their hiding spot, if no one successfully tags a predator and tells them the number they held up, the person hiding closest is the winner. I won twice, once I tied with Julie but I beat her a Rock-Paper -Scissors to be the insect. And I have the cuts and scrapes to prove it ^_^. But don’t think it’s a violent game, any injuries received are somewhat self inflicted from being into thorn bushes, under/into a tree (my head still hurts and so does Brigid’s) and any other place you can find to hide.

That’s it!
~Lina

Hey!!! I am Michelle a.k.a. M&M and I am going to tell you a true story about what happened to me. It was 6:30, and after a long day of research and learning I was finished my huge dinner complete with cheesy, mashed potatoes, salad, stir fry, and one and a half brownies. So then I had to clean up the dining room, which was part of this hands on something or other philosophy going on here. So I had to wipe down the tables and counters, refill all the water pitchers, put the chairs up on the table , then sweep the entire dining hall. But I was cool with it, because I got to use one of those thingys you can sweep into like a dustpan with a handle. That was awesome. So I am finally done, and I take off these way too big slippers they give us so our feet don’t get gross (We have to take off our shoes to enter the dining hall). So anyway I go outside to get my flip-flops. (I should mention it was awesome wearing flip-flops after wearing hiking boots all week.) And I see Beth talking on the phone on the nice big wooden porch out front. But then she signals to be quiet and that’s when I see a humongous brown beast rubbing against this poor little aspen tree about 15 feet away. SWEET I thought and sashayed back inside to get my camera to prove to all you back home that I really did see it. Anyway so I come back out and the bison has meandered its way to the sparse grass across the gravel. The other three people with me immediately clicked what must have been 30 pictures, and I had to pull back Jenn because that Bison was definitely about to eat her brains out (Ok not really.) But then I posed in front of the bison because its not everyday you can pose on a porch near a bison. So I was like DOUBLY SWEET and I am keeping that picture forever. So then the people near the main hall across from us told us to walk carefully around the bull on a road about 20ish yards away. So I was oh wow this is scary these people are crazy. But I lived to tell the tale thankfully. So then Mollie poses in front of the bison on the road with no cover. I would have spazzed if I wasn’t afraid of the meanie bison who was giving me the evil eye while he was eating his grass. So we made it safely and I was happy. So yeah there it is a typical hour in TSS. Thanks for reading I guess this was too long. I also wrote a poem that is optional to read.

Grand Teton National Park
Wow its really fun
I like to listen after dark
To make sure no one has a gun

bison herd - taken by morgan1.jpg	clouds - taken by Julie1.jpg	kate's group1.jpg	kelly and sarah- taken by kelly1.jpg	marking the plots1.jpg
Meghan in front of the bison - taken by Danielle1.jpg	mule deer - taken by brigid1.jpg	up close and personal!1.jpg	what kind of tree is that1.jpg