The 7th Grade Science classes recently took part in Operation Montserrat.
Sean Dykstra, 7th grader, shared his perspective on the project, “The Volcano team was tracking the ashfall levels in certain towns and the Evac. team used the information from the Hurricane team and Volcano team to evacuate as many people as possible.”
As the Evac team captain, Sean was in charge of making the final decisions for evacuating certain people from certain places. He worked together with his team that included Specialists for data and Messengers to communicate with other teams. Sean said the operation felt very real due to their communication with someone on the island of Montserrat via web conference. This person presented them with new vital information that they needed to make decisions about and quickly! Sean says it was very stressful and complicated, but an enjoyable experience.
Ms. Mis, the 7th Grade Science Teacher shared that students are going back to September 4, 1996 and they are part of a crisis intervention team.
As seismologists, meteorologists, and communication officers they must monitor a volcano for when it will erupt and a hurricane for its ETA to the island. The Evacuation team then takes all of the information from the Hurricane and Volcano teams and decides which side of the island to send people to, when and how to evacuate. The Comm. and Data officer take those decisions and distribute them to the public.
Students are also faced with challenges when someone doesn’t want to board a bus, or is trying to take along their pet goat, and the order to allow people to board. These challenges must be dealt with quickly to continue.
Ms. Mis says the project is an adrenaline rush for the students as 5 minutes of real time equals 1 hour of time in Operation Montserrat. She likes that this an actual event that took place in history and students have the opportunity to relive it through this project. Students are told how many casualties, burn victims, and how many people were successfully evacuated. The top for this class was 6,280 survivors with 0 casualties and 2 burn victims. Students feel drained, tired, and a feeling of success when completing Operation Montserrat.
