In the fall of 2005, about 60 students from High Tech High School embarked on a journey of discovery as they explored the recent history of the San Diego Bay. Their work resulted in this year’s publishing of a 325-page book, “San Diego Bay: A Story of Exploitation and Restoration.”
The work came from about a year and a half’s worth of research, interviewing, writing and editing as part of a project that covered three subjects: biotechnology, humanities and math.
Jay Vavra, the biotechnology teacher for the project, said a hands-on approach gave students a chance to create professional-quality work while studying their local environment.
“Students know about global warming and slash-and-burn in the Amazon rain forests,” Vavra said. “But here they’re introduced to their own backyards.”
The student researchers divided into 12 teams. Each team, made up of five to six students, researched eras of recent bay history.
Influenced by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond, the work looks at the San Diego Bay as a natural resource and how it has affected the course of development in the region, Vavra said.
The publication also includes a foreword by noted researcher Jane Goodall.
The book begins with the bay being used as a food source by Native American societies. The historical narrative tells of the Chinese fishermen of the mid-1800s and early 1900s, who were successful in the fishing industry. It then follows the waterfowl hunting, tuna fishing and white sea bass fishing industries in subsequent years.
The work also delves into kelp harvesting in the bay for potassium, a key ingredient used in gunpowder manufacturing that was in high demand during World War I. Rooted in the interviews of knowledgeable experts and accentuated with poetry from the students, the book explores the past exploitation and pollution of the bay and looks at current efforts to clean it up. The students also explore possibilities of creating mussel aquacultures in the future.
“We’re basically looking at the bay from the past, present and future perspectives,” said Natalie Linton, a student editor involved in the project.
Now a graduate of High Tech High, Linton will be attending American University in Washington D.C. in the fall. She said she is happy to have worked on the project because she was able to learn about the bay while gaining professional skills she can draw upon in the future. For Natalie, editing alongside fellow co-editor Gwen Michael-Jones and other students was one of the most challenging tasks.
“If I do become an editor, it will be later in my life, because it’s a lot of work, I’ve discovered,” Linton said.
She said she benefited from the project because being part of a collection of professional work sold publicly is an uncommon feat among most high school students.
But the volume is not just resumé padding, according to humanities teacher Tom Fehrenbacher. Students also got to draw from and contribute to a continuously growing body of work about the bay, he said. Fehrenbacher said the project allowed students to bridge the gap between the classroom and the natural world.
“To the extent we could bring our study into the field, we thought it was a good idea in order for the students to have a greater and greater understanding about what might be going on in their world,” Fehrenbacher said.
He said researching the bay in the field helps with “nature-deficit syndrome,” which, according to Fehrenbacher, affects children who don’t get enough time outside and end up feeling disconnected from the natural world.
The student-authored book is the third work produced by the students of High Tech High about the bay. This latest book builds upon work by previous High Tech High classes. The first two, “Two Sides of the Boat Channel” and “Perspectives of San Diego Bay,” were written as field guides. The California Sea Grant, University of California, a program administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published the book. Fehrenbacher, Vavra and math teacher Rod Buenviaje were awarded a grant from the National Education Association for the project. The Environmental Education Department of the Port of San Diego also helped pay for some of the printing costs. The book can be found at Cabrillo National Monument, Seabreeze Nautical Books, the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. After printing costs, profits from the sales fund the High Tech High San Diego Bay Series project. Next year’s volume will center on stories of conservation and threatened species. For more information visit www.sdbayguide.com.