For 30 years the AP Environmental Science (APES) classes have gone to the Indiana Dunes, but this year they changed their annual field trip to the Illinois Beach State Park. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Chris Barnett and Thomas Jodelka‘s morning APES classes took a 45-minute drive to Illinois Beach State Park. The classes that had APES in the later periods of the day went on Thursday, Sept. 25.

The class went on the field trip with the intention to learn about succession, which is the gradual process of an ecosystem to sustain life. Barnett explains why they made the switch this year and why the trip is important to the students.

“The main goals of these trips have been to study biodiversity and succession firsthand.  In the APES class, we decided to try Illinois Beach State Park because you can still see the beach and sand dune succession, but not have to deal with the possibility of a two-hour drive each way, as we did with heading to Northwest Indiana.  Both of these places are very special and these trips have become an integral part of both AP Biology and APES. Many Niles West students may not have the opportunity to get out and experience nature in this way.  So even beyond the science content,  these are incredibly valuable trips,” Barnett said.

On the trip, students studied the percolation of the soil by timing the rate at which it took water to be absorbed by soil.  They did this by going to three distinct areas of the beach: the sand dunes, the foredunes and the savanna. The students had to create a trail guide based on the beach.  Senior Sarah Powell found the field trip helped her better understand the APES concepts.

“It was kind of cool to get real-world hands-on experience and we did soil percolation testing and it helped me understand the conditions that helped plants grow and why they grow the way they do. I liked applying the stuff we learned from a textbook and from nature documentaries and applying it to my personal life. and seeing real examples in Illinois of environmental science concepts,” Powell said. 

Senior Avinn Shrestha recounts his favorite memory of the trip.

“My favorite memory is obviously going to be building that sandcastle me and my team made with the soil percolation instruments, but also hanging out at the beach with my friends is always really fun,” Shrestha said. 

APES is taking more field trips, canoeing on the Chicago River and the O’Brien Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.