Programs Blog

July 2, 2025

Name: Dora W.

Location: Wood Neck Beach

Hi Blog! 

Today started off a bit chilly and rainy. We went to Wood Neck Beach with Kayla for our field work. The beach was small but quite pretty – it was a mix of inlet salt marsh and sandy shore. We set up stations to collect data for different aspects of oceanography: geographical, physical, biological, chemical, as well as human use & impact. Then we split up and started working. Our group started with the human use & impact station. We needed to collect and measure rubbish in a 25*10 feet section and survey people on the beach about their ideas on rubbish. Surprisingly, the beach was super clean. Our group only found 1 hangtag and 1 small rubber ribbon (probably a Crocs charm). Everything else was just sand, rocks, and many, many shells. We also interviewed a friendly lady named Christie (thanks to our great ambassador Harper, with her brilliant communication skills!!!). She told us that she felt bad about the rubbish on the beach since trash cans were available. She also said that plastic bags, bottles, and straws were the rubbish she thought to be the most common on the beach. For the rest of the stations, we filtered the beach sand sample with different-sized strainers; captured organisms, tested the water with several chemicals, and measured the beach profile. One of the most interesting parts was that we found several baby shrimps, crabs, and probably sand fleas on a clump of plants and shells – it was like a small nursery.

In the afternoon, we had lectures about physical oceanography about the Gulf Stream Ring (warm/cold core ring), chemical oceanography about various characteristics of water, the ocean’s role in the water cycle and carbon cycle, multiple chemical contents, and some reactions. We also learnt about climate change and its influence. After class, my friend Clio asked Kayla about how we individuals can balance our lives while reducing the emission of CO2. Kayla gave a very inspiring answer. Compared to the carbon emitted by companies (they emitted most of it), individuals actually have a very small impact. The best way for an individual to influence this was through money and votes, by supporting the sustainable companies and pushing for the change of the system.

After dinner, we went to get ice cream (yes!!!) and watched the sunset by Surf Drive Beach. The sky was yellow, pink, and purple like a dream and so beautiful. We even saw the rainbow (“USA is beautiful!!!” — Clara). We finally had craft night in B cottage, painting rocks we collected before and making paper sharks. All in all, it is truly an unforgettable day today!!!