On Thursday, October 11th Columbia GEAR UP took the entire 7th grade from Columbia Middle School on a field trip to Ice Harbor Dam. This trip was to coincide with their current lessons in social studies and science classes and also gave them the opportunity to learn about various careers at the Dam.



Ice Harbor Dam is conveniently located only about 10 minutes away from Columbia Middle School. The buses were greeted by a dam employee who is also the mother of a current GEAR UP student. The students split into four groups and were led to their starting locations. Every group went through all the stations while at the dam and each stop on the tour had a knowledgeable guide who was able to answer any questions the students had. One group started out the morning with an overview of the basics of how the dam works. There was a huge mural inside the visitor center of the inner workings of the dam that the tour guide used as a visual to explain to the students how everything operated.

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Next, we were shown a short movie about the history of the dam. After that we went into the fish viewing room where a fish biologist explained how the fish go through the dam and the life cycle of the different types of fish. Students were then treated to a question and answer session with the fish biologist and were able to watch the different kinds of salmon go through the dam. For many of the students this was definitely the highlight of the day! Students and staff were then given hardhats as we ventured in to see the generator and turbines. It was there we were able to see the control rooms and were also told about opportunities for internships at the dams.

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Finally, we were able to walk across the top of the dam. This proved a little scary for those afraid of heights but luckily CMS has brave students! We were fortunate enough to be there when a barge came through and we were able to see the locks in action. We ended the day by having lunch in the large picnic area overlooking the Columbia River. It was a very exciting, fun filled day of learning for our students.