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Maureen keisling, a st. Mary school sixth-grader, studies samples pulled from a nearby pond during the festival. INdEpENdENt photos By MIKE NEUMANN
nearby groundwater is polluted as well. The groups [of students] are very good, said WHS senior Wyatt Meyer. They seemed willing to learn. He said being able to educate youth about the importance of groundwater protection is rewarding and something he is happy to do as part of the Envirothon Team. Bill Donato, adviser to the team and a science teacher at WHS, said he used to take part in a grant program in the 1990s that taught students about groundwater, but funding for that program ran out after a few years. [The groundwater festival] is a way for us to stay in the loop, Donato said. Were already talking about ways to expand it. Hillary Russel, a teacher at St. Mary School, said the firsthand learning experience is exactly the type of engaging education needed to teach youth about these important issues. She said from an educators standpoint, she appreciates the interaction between the middle and high school students as well as the interaction of students from different schools.
Woodstock high school student Graham ellinghausen pulls mud containing lifeforms from water during the groundwater festival. INdEpENdENt photos By MIKE NEUMANN
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Murphysboro mud Mix monster Once upon a time, for a short couple Mix of weeks, a 7-foot Messages tall, mud-streaked, white-haired screaming beast terrorized the wooded area of Big Muddy River near Murphysboro. The creature was seen by a young couple, heard by police officers and seen once again by a 4-year old boy as it ran through his yard. Monster of Lake Michigan From 1867 to 1890, newspapers reported accounts of people from Evanston to Hyde Park who claimed to have seen a sea serpent offshore in Lake Michigan. The 40- to 50- foot-long beast flashed bluish black skin, a long neck, scales and a gray-white underbelly. Apparently it also made a sound similar to an angry bull.
Rhonda
Enfield horror In the 1970s (I think they must have loved monsters during this decade) near Enfield, a deformed creature with small T-Rex-like arms, pink eyes, gray skin and three legs supposedly attacked a young boy playing outside before it tried to burglarize a neighbors home. The neighbor shot the monster and it ran away, while a news director for WWKI Radio was said to have recorded its screams. The monster re-appeared frequently near railroad tracks before it vanished without a trace. starved Rock ghost While staying overnight in a cabin at Starved Rock State Park, I was awakened at 2 a.m. by a sub-human howl echoing through the room. The howl was followed by a rush of wind. For a moment, I wondered if I had been dreaming. Again, the howl pierced the darkness, and from across the room my brother said Did you hear that? After a few moments the thing was gone. The next day, we searched for a voice-recording device, thinking maybe someone had decided to play a prank on us. We found nothing. I will never know what mysterious being visited us that night, but I like to think it was the ghost of an angry Native American. Whether one believes in ghosts and strange creatures or not, there are truly some things in this world that cannot be explained. Sometimes part of the fun of life is not having a definitive answer to these questions. Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known? - Charles de Lint Happy Halloween everyone.