Palmer Trinity School

14 W W W. PA L M E R T R I N I T Y. O R G Dr. Leo Llinas' Marine Science class had the opportunity to build custom spinning rods as part of their semester project during both the fall and spring semesters. Twenty students under the instruction of Dr. Llinas and our school Librarian, Eric Ballesteros, worked carefully — giving special attention to detail in order to complete their custom wrapped rods. Over a five-week period, Dr. Llinas and his students learned the basic skills of custom rod building as well as experiencing a "reality check" in the form of a lesson in patience and perseverance. Twelve of the best fishing poles were selected and entered into the Dade County Youth Fair's Fishing Division and were on display in the Student Exhibition Hall at the Dade County Youth Fair through April 16, 2017. MARINE SCIENCE THE PALMER TRINIT Y GHOST SHRIMP FOSSIL BED IT WAS APPROXIMATELY SIX YEARS AGO that a University of Miami professor and Palmer Trinity parent, Dr. Donald McNeill, brought his geology class to PTS and spent a considerable amount of time in the north campus limestone garden. It sparked an interest among the faculty and staff and I volunteered to find out more. Approaching the group, I noticed the students looking intently at the limestone and taking notes. "Good afternoon! Do you know what you have here?" asked Dr. McNeill. "Limestone rock," I responded. He smiled and my lesson began. We were standing on an incredible representation of Florida's limestone formations between the North campus baseball field and the north parking lot of Palmer Trinity School. is area is a true journey into South Florida's past. Once, the area was overgrown with vegetation and hidden from view. Now it's exposed and reveals a geological and paleontological view of the past. is area was once a shoreline with a sandy bottom, teaming with marine life. One invertebrate in particular, the burrowing ghost shrimp, called this shoreline home. If you have ever snorkeled off a sandy Florida beach, you probably saw the entrances of the ghost shrimp burrows. ey appear to be small hills covering the sandy floor. ey're often seen with jets of water and sand being expelled from the entrance as the shrimp maintains the burrow. ese burrows can be several feet in length. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the water here receded, exposing the area to the air and other environmental factors that contributed to the limestone formation and the fossilization of the ghost shrimp burrows. As you peer into the eroded limestone formations on campus, you can see the fossilized remains of the burrows. is unique geological fossil bed has been incorporated into a lab within the PTS biology and science classes. Alumni Albert Fernandez '17 and Hunter Serrate '17 designed and implemented a ghost shrimp burrow count transect line during their freshman year and fine-tuned the lab in their Marine Environment classes. e lab exposes Palmer Trinity students to this unique geological feature on our campus and provides a unique experience in the students' learning. BY BRI A N ME A L E Y, UPPE R S CHO OL S CIENCE , FACULT Y BY E RIC BA L L E S T E ROS, LIBR A RI A N

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