​Day 2 | Sitka National Historical Park

Day 2 started at the Sitka Sound Science Center, and I am pretty sure we could have stayed there all day. We spent the morning learning about this place from the people who know it so well, including participating in their “course within a course.” It was hands-on, messy, fascinating learning, which is exactly how we like it.

We worked with coho salmon, weighing fish and learning about the work that happens during spawning season. We learned how eggs are carefully retrieved from the females and milt from the males, and then how those pieces come together as part of the process of raising the next generation of salmon. There is a big difference between reading about the salmon life cycle and standing there with a fish in your hands, seeing the eggs, asking questions, and understanding just how much work goes into helping sustain these populations. We left with wet hands, a whole lot more knowledge, and even more questions than we started with.

After lunch, we headed to Sitka National Historical Park to meet Ranger Amelia. We walked and talked our way through the park, noticing the enormous spruce and hemlock trees, salmon streams, mosses, ferns, berries, and all the green that seems to grow on top of more green here. We talked about the totem poles along the trails, the Tlingit people whose history is deeply connected to this land, and the 1804 battle between the Tlingit Kiks.ádi clan and Russian forces. We also talked about how this place holds stories that are beautiful, complicated, painful, and important. It felt good to learn while actually standing in the place where so much of that history happened.

We also spent time with our ReWilding project, thinking about the small ways we can make space for native plants and wildlife when we return home. Then came nature prints, where pieces of Sitka became our art supplies. Leaves, textures, shapes, and whatever else caught our attention made their way onto paper. Nobody's print looked quite like anyone else's, which is probably the best part.

And somewhere in the middle of all of this learning, there were some absolutely hilarious conversations about Sheila. I am not even sure they can be properly explained in writing, and perhaps they shouldn't be. 😂 But I do know there was a lot of laughing, the kind that happens when a group is getting comfortable enough with one another to be a little ridiculous.

Day 2 was salmon eggs and forest trails, history and art, science and laughter. We learned a lot about Sitka today, but we are also starting to learn a lot about each other. This final STEAM in the PARK camp of the summer is moving way too fast already.