University of Richmond students go out with a splash
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Whitewater rafting trip gives Endeavor students an up-close view of the watershed they’ve studied all year.
Students in a year-long Endeavor program in coastal ecology ended their experience navigating the rapids of the James River — a fitting full-circle finale.
“The rafting trip bookends their year experience,” said Emily Boone, a biology and environmental studies senior teaching faculty. “We started the semester in August talking about watersheds and the James River.”
That first lesson started close to home, as students followed the Westhampton Lake outflow along the Eco-Corridor. They talked about how the lake drains into Little Westham Creek, makes its way to the James River, then into the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.
Throughout the year, the students conducted water quality surveys and turtle population surveys in the campus lake. They traveled to see endangered sturgeon, a prehistoric fish, on their annual fall migration up the James River, snorkeled in seagrass beds on the Eastern Shore, and visited Baltimore's National Aquarium.
On the rafting trip, students spotted swallows that built their nests along the sides of the bridges, blue herons and geese along the shoreline, and even a bald eagle flying overhead.
Rafting from Pony Pasture, they saw firsthand how the river transforms at the fall line that creates the rapids near downtown Richmond — shifting from the bedrock of the piedmont to the soft sediment of the coastal plain before the water becomes tidal.
Despite a cold, rainy start, the group embraced the challenge.
“The fact that they showed up under those conditions speaks volumes to their willingness to try new things and the camaraderie that they have built among themselves over the course of the year,” Boone said. “It was a perfect way to end the program.”