Today, we began our first day of Royal Explorers Camp. Our 7th graders met their leaders early this morning, and we jumped right into the festivities! We introduced our campers to our theme for the camp of basic human needs in a modern world. Throughout the camp, we will learn about water, food, shelter, energy, and transportation.

Today our campers learned about water and how we access water through filtration. The campers created their very own water filters, but they were a little hesitant in actually drinking the water.

We made a visit to the waste treatment plant on campus. Thank you to JU water treatment crew for showing us how the water on campus is filtered and then returned to the river. The campers had many great questions and were fascinated by this process. They were able to see the full process from sink to river.

We also visited Cruze Farms where we made our own ice cream. We are off to a great start at camp, and we can’t wait for the many adventures ahead in the next two weeks!! Feel free to follow our Instagram account at “royalexplorerssciencecamp” to see more pictures of our adventures.

This year, 8th graders were also invited to be part of the Royal Explorers Camp. For our 8th grade students, we are moving the camp beyond science and focusing on learning how science and history interact with each other. Throughout the next two weeks, students will learn about and uncover how science has affected the history of Knoxville for the past several hundred years.

We began the day by observing Professor Jason Mead blindly taste-test various water samples. The students loved watching him try salt water and spit it out right away! This led to a discussion with Dr. Sarah Cathey about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan and how certain chemicals and substances in water can harm people and animals. The students related this incident to a time they heard about a school shutting down because of the bad water coming from the pipes. The students also discussed various ways, such as boiling and filtration, to clean dirty or dangerous water.

Finally, the students went down to the riverfront on campus to collect water samples of their own. Here, Professor Mead talked with them about the importance of a river throughout history. Students recalled the importance of the TVA, water transportation, and water treatment. The students then went back to the lab to test their water samples with Dr. Cathey. The students learned how to test the pH of different kinds of water and loved seeing how much chlorine was in their tap water!

Join us in prayer as we seek to encourage and teach our students these next 8 days of camp!

Posts written by Sarah Hume and Bridget Cooper