Government shutdown affects Lake Tahoe trip

By Sascha Bruck, via Wikimedia commons.
By Sascha Bruck, via Wikimedia commons.

By Ashley Han,
HUB Staff Writer—

Not only are government workers getting affected by the shutdown that occurred on Oct. 1, but so are Davis High students. The Environmental Science field trip to Lake Tahoe has been postponed due to the government shutdown.

The four Environmental Science classes of totaling to 137 students were scheduled to go to Lake Tahoe on Oct. 8. However, all national parks have been closed for more than a week.

“I feel sorry for the people impacted by the shutdown [furloughed employees, those losing benefits, etc] but never thought it would have a direct impact upon my curriculum,” science teacher Eric Bastin said.

According to Bastin, the trip will possibly take place later in October but he must navigate the government shutdown, bus availability, weather and decreases in the number of spawning salmon.

“If the trip ends up not happening it would be a shame as the students would lose out on the hands on experience with the material we have been [and] will be covering in class,” Bastin said.

The Lake Tahoe trip will help environmental science students with the topics they are covering such as salmon life cycle, watershed issues, aboitic/biotic interactions and alpine community structures.

Environmental student and senior Armen Hovagimian thinks the government shutdown is over dramatized and the postponement does not affect him greatly.

“It is unfortunate, of course, but I think it’s not that big a deal […] personally I think we should just go to BLM [Bureau of Land Management] land. Its public land and so government shutdown doesn’t affect any of it,” Hovagimian said.

Senior Sydney Carrera is also an environmental student. Carrera has not been to a field trip since ninth grade and was unsatisfied about the delay of the trip.

“I was bummed [because] I haven’t been on a field trip in so long […] I guess it’s kind of [the government’s] fault,” Carrera said.

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