Callisburg Middle School Callisburg, Texas, USA
Teacher: Vickey Holley, with coordination support provided by Tm Jones
Vicky Holley’s 6th grade students at Callisburg Middle School (CMS) in Callisburg, Texas were astounded when they learned how the disastrous earthquake and tsunami which struck their sister school of Omose Junior High School in Kesennuma, Japan, in March 2011 happened so quickly and left so much devastation. Yet, they were just as astounded by the drought which was wreaking havoc over their own state.
The earthquake which ruptured the Pacific Ocean’s floor just southeast of Kesennuma’s bay on March 11 had occurred without warning and the resulting tsunami flooded the city, killed about 1,500 of its citizens, destroyed 9,500 homes, four schools, 4,100 business including its port, and leaving 90% of its surviving citizens unemployed.
While the magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami surprised the CMS students, the fact that it occurred did not. Just one year before another tsunami had struck Kesennuma Bay. This one was triggered by a large earthquake off the coast of Chile. At that time, the Callisburg Elementary School raised money through various activities to send to their sister school, Omose Elementary School, in Kesennuma. When that tsunami hit, (Feb. 28, 2010 is when it hit Japan—the earthquake was Feb. 27, in Chile) the Callisburg students had learned how interconnected the Pacific Rim countries were through geography and how an earthquake on one side of the Pacific could affect the oyster and seaweed farmers in Kesennuma Bay on the opposite side of the Pacific. Now, they were seeing their sister school being affected by a tsunami whose destruction was beyond anything ever experienced. So, it was natural for the class to choose disaster preparation and mitigation as its research topic. But, the most important lesson they will learn is that proper preparation will save lives. Mrs. Holley’s students heard stories as told by Kesennuma students and teachers about how they survived the tsunami because of the training and planning that had taken place over the years. Because of training and practice, every student, teacher, and staff member who as at school when the tsunami hit survived. The only deaths of students and faculty members (13 students and two teachers) were those who were not at school when the tsunami hit.
As it happened, the Callisburg Students were living through their own disaster, albeit happening at glacial speed compared to the earthquake and tsunami and certainly not taking human lives anywhere near the same rate. Yet the disaster affecting Callisburg and most of the southwestern United States continues to grow in magnitude and will claim many lives and cost billions of dollars as its effects are felt around the world, including many of the APEC countries.
In Mrs. Holley’s 6th grade social studies classes, the students discussed how each of them is being affected by the drought and what innovations might be possible to mitigate the effects of the drought. Through the discussions, the students came to a consensus about the importance of water to their community and state. They observed that people in their lives seem to not take water conservation seriously and that it was their task to educated family and friends about the importance of water.
Next, they explored the effects of the drought on the area in and around their community, observing that lakes and ponds were very low or completely dry, that the water contained high concentrations of green algae which can been deadly to humans and other animals (swimming and water sports had been banned in the largest lake in the area—Lake Texoma—due to the algae). They also discussed the water cycle and how the rainfall received in Texas this year was just over 7 inches of rain on average which was not sufficient to replenish the aquifers which supply a large percentage of water in Texas. In addition, they discussed population growth in Texas and the problem of having enough water to meet the needs of the growing cities.
After viewing a PowerPoint presentation composed by visiting Japanese teacher Chie Morizuka and seeing how too much water in the form of the tsunami had devastated the economy of Kesennuma and other coastal cities in Japan, the students discussed how water or the lack of it would affect the economy of Texas. They observed the following:
- Farmers and ranchers are currently selling some or all of their livestock due to lack of water and/or pasture and the result will be a decline in beef and dairy production.
- This decline would cause a price increase, causing the consumer to pay higher prices at the grocery store.
- Consumers are earning the same amount of money, but paying more for goods that they purchase.
- Population increases will require more food so the problem will only get worse.
- People will have less money to spend on luxury items which will cause a decline in sales for some businesses.
- This natural disaster could become a global issue.
- The decline in products grown and produced in Texas could cause a shortage of goods to be shipped to other areas, especially to APEC countries.
Mrs. Holley explained that Texas exports agricultural products worth billions of dollars each year to Australia, Canada, China, Chile, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and most of the APEC countries.
She then asked students to suggest innovations that might address the issue of drought. They made the following suggestions:
- People need to be made aware of the importance of water conservation.
- People should take short showers.
- A new technique should be invented to remove salt from ocean water to make it suitable for drinking water. (The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is now getting help from a U.S. Navy ship which can turn sea water into drinking water. Other neighbors such as New Zealand are also helping after the small nation was down to its last few gallons of fresh water after suffering from a drought much like the one affecting Texas.)
- Students want to ban water fountains in public places.
The students then viewed the photos taken by class members (showcased above) and became more aware of how dire the drought had become. After viewing the photos, they were eager to discover more ways to conserve water and mitigate future drought conditions.
Finally, Callisburg Middle School is planning to hold a Skype videoconference with students in Kesennuma to discuss how planning and preparations saved the lives of every student, faculty, and staff member who was at school on the day the tsunami struck. CMS Principal Josh Ballinger will visit Kesennuma in January to participate in a UNESCO AspNet conference and deliver the message that Callisburg students will be more prepared for disasters following the extraordinary example of Kesennuma schools.
After viewing this I learned that natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and even storms affect many people around the world. Here in Scarsdale, many citizens lost power and some lost heat.
Oh my god. I never would have imagined that a disaster like that would leave a country in complete utter pieces. In Scarsdale, the biggest disaster to us is a “terrible” hurricane that left people without power for a week at the most. I can’t even try to understand how badly this disaster must have hurt this country. We didn’t have power for a week, they probably didn’t have power for ever and had no where to go. Thank you for this eye opening experience. I will never forget about the rest of the world and how most of the developing countries are in pieces.
I didn’t realize how much natural disasters occured in Texas.
After reading this article, we did not realize how disastrous how natural disasters can be and how much people can be affected by them.
These photos (and your explanation) helped me understand the depletion of plentiful things like water, and how quickly things can be pulled away from them.
In scarsdale we don’t have droughts, but we do get a lot of snow. Like last year we got about two feet of snow in one day and it lasted about one week.
What is the the hottest it has ever been there?
One bad disaster that we face in New York is hurricanes. [Hurricane] Irene affected many areas in the New York state.
You all are doing a great job in this project. It shows that you care very much about the people all around the world. Did this project worked? Did everyone support you to help the people out there? I’m sure that everyone will assist you into helping the world. Good Luck!
Dear Callisburg Middle School students i think you have designed a very good project. The pictures and captions are all excellent. What have you been doing to deal with the drought? Has it been hard on you and your family?
Josh S., Scarsdale Middle School, NY, USA
We found this project to be very interesting. Although we have not experienced a drought, we feel as though your pictures show an excellent point of view. We can relate to this, because we have recently had a hurricane that brought down many trees and power lines in our area. In upstate New York, many towns were flooded. Thank your pictures, it inspired us in so many ways.
I had no idea there was some many disasters taking place in Texas
I like how you showed that natural disasters affect many people not just the people in that area.
This is interesting to us because we did not know how much destruction occured in Texas and other southern states. We here in Hudson only really get minor disasters such as small tropical storms and blizzards (which aren’t that bad). We never thought about Texas being a harsh place for natural disasters before, but now this made us think about the horrible damage that is being done. This made us think about how lucky we are to live in a place where no severe weather occurs often. We were very suprised that we didn’t know about the damage done to Texas. Does this happen very often?
It’s cool that you showed a natural disaster isn’t just tornadoes and hurricanes, and that small disasters can still have a big impact on society.
Your project was interesting. I liked how you showed that many places get affected because of things like droughts or natural disasters.
I never knew Texas was going through a drought. Are there things my state, Ohio, could help the effort or any other state?
In Ohio, there aren’t any droughts. We also have few natural disasters that affect us directly. The worst we get is a tornado (which are still very devastating), and we also get bad rains from big hurricanes. I liked your report. It had so much info!
What were the mud cracks causes from?
Great work guys. Keep it up. I can now see what natural disasters can do to the world and people.
Great work guys! You have done an excellent job.
This is very interesting how you caputered that many places get affected because of things such as droughts or natural disasters. I liked that you showed small disasters can still have a big impact on society.
I hope you soon get some rain, and your lakes become what they use to be.
Good luck.
Your project was interesting. It showed how people are affected by natural disasters.
I never knew Texas could get a drought. Can northern states get droughts too?
I thought your pictures were very interesting because of the pond you have. It was cool to see that my town wasn’t the only town.
I had no idea how many natural disasters occured in Texas and how they change people’s lives. Also, it is interesting how the disasters don’t just affect the people in that area, but in other places too.
This is a very interesting project, although I have never experienced a drought I found that the pictures show an excellent perspective of what a drought is and what occurs with a drought.
Wow, I never knew that a earthquake could leave a crack in the ground that you could put your whole hand in. I also never knew that droughts can make almost a entire lake dry out. Great work, your pictures really show how bad natural disasters are.
I agree that people should use water more effectively. Also I think your project was really interesting.
I never knew that there was a really bad earthquake that happened there. What are those cracks from? Is it from the cracks from the earth’s crust from the earthquake that happened?
I heard a lot about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but didn’t hear about the drought in Texas. This article really taught me a lot about the importance of water.
Wow, this is one of the saddest thing I have heard of although I did not experience this I can imagine what you are going through. Stay strong.
I think that this is really sad that many lives were lost. To top that tragedy off, most of the survivors were unemployed and homeless.
I like how you have interesting pictures of nature. I also like how you took pictures from different angles. Another thing I like is how you are pointing to certain things.
I like the pictures of Texas. It shows the lanscape and the disasters that had happened.
These are some very interesting pictures! I found it very cool to look at them! Keep up the good work!
The mud cracks are from the drought. The dirt is so dry that the ground is cracking.:( [But] we are getting a lot of rain. Our forcast is rain for days….
Thank you for all those comments. My backyard is a desert practically. I hope it rains like 50 inches.
We are actually doing better. We have got kind of a lot of rain. I’m glad because our lakes need rain!
Callisburg Middle School, Texas
The reason we have mud cracks is because it is really dry land and it is making cracks in the ground.
Callisburg Texas Middle School
I never relized that it would be important to care, but now I do. I can’t believe that drought will be this bad, butnow I care.
Yes, Cara, there were very bad drought in Texas. We have cracks in the ground, and dried ponds and grass. I am from Callisburg Middle School, Texas.
Cam b., [the cracks] were not caused by an earthquake. It also has been raining a lot, so it has gotten better.
Cam b., the cracks were not caused by a earthquake. It was caused by a drought. It’s been raining a little bit, so it’s gotten better.
It is terrible what happened here in Texas and in Japan. I hope it gets better soon.
Well, it stinks because every day here in the summer and half of the fall, it was just unreal…and hot I had to drink so much water. Although it is bad here in Texas, it is worse in Japan. So I wish the best to them.
Well, Kayle and Kristine, natural disasters occur a lot. I never knew how much they occurred either until the drought.
This doesn’t happen a lot. It’s the first time in my life. This has been a scary time. Houses burned down, thousand of houses have been destroyed, and people have lost their life, but I have to say that we are pretty lucky because it could have been a lot worst…just like what happen in Japan.
The prices went up [for things like] steak and peanut butter. The drought affected everything.
The drought referred to in this project was the most intense in recorded Texas history. When wildfires began blazing across Texas in the fall of 2011, their flames were fed by the prolonged drought conditions and, at the same time, the fires compounded the drought. Nearly 21,000 fires across Texas burned close to 1,500 homes and forced the evacuations of thousands of residents (source: The Boston Globe, 9/9/11). The total loss (mostly in agriculture) from the fires and the drought is estimated at several billion dollars.
Hello, thank you so much for caring about our drought and everything. We had so much cracks, and it was terrible to see nature down like that. Here in Texas, it’s been raining a little bit and I was exicited to see rain. When we had drought, it was terrible because our ponds were dry and everything looked so terrible.!!!!!!!:)
I’m looking no one said we are callisburg middle school every one from kaycee to samantha
I’m in a Japanese class, and we are learning about the earthquake and the tsunami that hit Japan. It was so sad.
How can we a skype teleconfrence with your school? My friends are interested to hold it.
Dea Angelia (SMPN 3 Sugio, Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia)
Austin, the mudcracks were from the heat over the summer when we got no rain…therefore it caused cracks.
Wow!!(: This is awesome!!!:)
OHHH so sad!!!
OMG soooo sad!!!!(:
To Austin: The mud cracks were caused by the drought.
This is so amazing!!!!!!(:
This is soooooooooo sad I wish I could help!!!:(
Wow this is awesome!!
Wow this is awesome!!
Wow, this is horrible.
Go Callisburg! I didn’t know that we did anything like this. This is awesome!!!!! Go Cats!!!
Good job cats. I din’t know we did this. It’s really awesome, and I wish we could do it for the 7th graders:)!!!
I love that we can help change the world and help people out. I wish we could help the little kids in Africa ???:)
Hey I go to this school!!!! We have Japanese here and they talkrf about the earthquake that hit Japan. It snowed this week… and I was happy! Especially after the drought this summer.
Wow! I’m from Callisburg Texas Middle School and over the summer we lost tons of water from all of our lakes, ponds, rivers and streams!!! we lost a lot of fish! This year we are learning about tsunamis and it’s so sad. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but it really is!! Hope all is well in Japan!!:)
I never knew drought was this bad, and I never cared before, but now I do.
The hottest is about 115 degrees [noted in Fahrenheit, or 46.1 degrees Celcius].
Oh my gosh…it’s really cool to see this.
These projects are shedding new light on the seriousness of droughts. Most people don’t understand the damage they can do. I’ve had animals killed by droughts. It’s a sad, sad thing. You guys did an excellent job!
We have gotten some snow in the last couple days, and that has helped so much here in Callisburg.
Callisburg 7th grader
I can’t get over how cool this is!!!!
Wow!!! I didn`t know it got that bad. I did know that people that live in Highland Village by Lake Louisville can’t even water their yards…including me.
The drought looked bad…I feel really sad.
During the summer the drought got bad, but it has gotten a lot better since the summer! In North Texas during the summer almost every town was in a burn ban! If it weren’t for the rain and snow we have been getting we would still be in a burn ban. We are still in a drought but it has gotten better.
I am surprised how these disasters even happen.
During the summer the drought got bad, but it has gotten better since the summer! In North Texas it’s bad, but here it’s not that bad. I love this school and I love everbody here.
Super cool!! <3
This is cool.
This is so cool
I didn’t know it was that bad, but you guys did a good job.
Callisburg is awesome; so is this website.
I feel so bad 4 u guys.
I read about this in the newspaper. Good job.
(: THIS IS SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!(: <3
CALLISBURG MIDDLE SCHOOL BABY!!(:
Darret, this is not cool for the kids in Japan. Think about how they feel.
Hi guys, I hope you’re ok.
Darret, this is not cool for the kids in Japan or the drought we had over the summer!!!
(: perty cool ^_____^
I have just read a comment about how hot it has gotten here, and I think it’s around 115. But this is really cool, and our 6th graders did a wonderful job on it, and im proud of them. I have actually learned a few things myself and I realized that other people suffer same things as we do in unexpected locations. I love my school-Callisburg Middle School GO CATZ!!!!!
YO…YOUR SCHOOL IS REALLY SMART!!!!! ::::DDDD
This is really cool! Chelsea your comment is crazy…AWESOME lolz hahahaha. Go Callisburg!!!!!!
The drought got pretty bad, but the rain and the snow helped alot.
This is so cool.:~) hehehe
You’re so sweet guys
I wish there was a way I could help
This is really intresting. We had no clue how bad it got during the summer.
i LOVE you guys sooooo sooo much!!!!!!!
This is sooo sad:( And inspiring!!(:
I luv this site….Jonathan I agree with you about them being sweet.
I love food a lot more, but this website is still awesome.
Wow, so sad. I really did not care, but i do now!:)
P.S. Great job cats. Keep up the good work.