Students to stay at Fairview Camp in Sussex County.
By: Josh Appelbaum
Middle-schoolers from Cranbury and Princeton will partner on a two-day science trip for sixth-grade science students at the end of the school year.
Students from Cranbury School and the John Witherspoon Middle School will participate in science-related activities and experiments during a two-day stay at Fairview Camp in Sussex County. Two groups will go to Fairview, the first from May 31 to June 1 and the second from June 2 to June 3.
In addition to bunking together, Witherspoon and Cranbury students will have to join forces to complete experiments in aquatic ecology, limnology and swamp ecology and will participate in a geology hike.
Students will go on a boating trip and participate in an "action-socialization" exercise, where students work through an obstacle course without verbal communication.
Cranbury teachers Bridget Lundquist and Meredith Montenare will chaperone the first trip and Cranbury guidance counselor Joann Charwin and Cranbury teachers Amanda Ackerman and Kristen Feyereisen will accompany the second group.
Ms. Lundquist, a science teacher, said the trip is important for sixth-graders’ social skills and prepares them for scientific concepts learned in seventh and eighth grade. She said each trip will be chockfull of fun, educational activities.
"There’s no down time," Ms. Lundquist said. "We’ll be up and about until 10 p.m. and up at 7 a.m."
Swamp ecology and limnology activities will have students take water samples and conducting depth of light readings in the camp’s brooks and streams. The geology hike will take students on a portion of the Appalachian Trail that overlooks the camp. Ms. Lundquist said it is on the geology hike that students are allowed to sit back and enjoy their surroundings.
"We take the students to the northern tip of the Appalachian Trail, and we walk up on a ridge that overlooks the campground, and we yodel to the people in the valley," Ms. Lundquist said. "What is interesting is that we sometimes encounter trekkers that have been on the Appalachian Trail for months."
This year’s Fairview trip re-establishes a long-running tradition of partnering with Witherspoon on a science trip. Previously, the schools ran their trips independently, and Ms. Lundquist said she didn’t know the last time they went on a campout together.
Students will also be taught and encouraged to respect their environment on the trip, with rewards for the most "green-friendly" bunk.
"During mealtime, a chaperone will go around to check the bunks," Ms. Lundquist said. "They’ll rate each cabin on eco-friendliness and the winning bunk will get their snack first."
Ms. Lundquist said the trip is beneficial to students given their course of study in sixth grade and introduces them to concepts they will learn in later courses.
"It fits in nicely with our unit on ecology," Ms. Lundquist said. "It is a hands-on environmental study experience."
Cranbury School will hold an informational meeting for parents regarding the trip in late April or early May.

