At STEAM Legacy High School on October 25, the second Resilient Rio 51 field trip began! Three amazing instructors from Outward Bound Adventures arrived to pick up 6 students and take them to base camp at LA State Historic Park. Their unique campsite is located along the Los Angeles River with a magnificent view of Downtown Los Angeles. The group was also joined by two students from John Muir High School. For many students, this was their first experience camping!
Saturday the students traveled to the headwaters in Canoga Park and learned about watershed modeling. In the afternoon, students were taken to Lewis MacAdams Park where they were joined by River LA’s Jason Foster and Sarah Courtney from Boeing! Sarah and Jason gave presentations about the LA River and environmental remediation. Afterward, everyone joined in on a hike along the middle of the Los Angeles River and completed a site evaluation. Many students responded that this was one of their favorite parts of the trip! In the evening, they returned to LA State Historic Park and even received a special tour of the Los Angeles River from a park ranger. This was an eye-opening experience for many of the students that showcased the great potential for the future of the Los Angeles River.
Sunday brought the students to mile 51 of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach! The students heard from John Williams from Boeing who spoke about Boeing’s work to support local communities, pollution and clean-ups, and careers in science. Afterward, the students got to design their own ideal park along the Los Angeles River. Many designs included space for recreation and amenities like food vendors. To close out the weekend, the students were taken on a boat ride out of Shoreline Village! This was the next most popular activity of the weekend.
River LA is proud to have partnered with Boeing Foundation, National Recreation Foundation, Outward Bound Adventures, and STEAM Legacy High School to make this trip a HUGE success! A special thank you to Las Fotos for documenting this amazing program! We’re committed to providing positive experiences to learn about and enjoy the Los Angeles River for local youth and can’t wait to begin planning the next trip!
