Throughout March and April of each year, Sandhill Cranes congregate on the banks of the Platte River in Nebraska as a part of their annual migration.

This year, science instructor Kayla Bell is sponsoring a trip to the Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte River to give interested students an opportunity to view this migration. Students attending will leave at 1:30 p.m. on March 15 and head to Gibbons, Neb.

Bell believes this trip will benefit all students who attend and offer a unique real-world application of class material for students enrolled in an environmental science class.

“Some benefits are being outside and seeing the environment,” Bell said. “It’s important to see what’s going on in our surrounding ecosystems and all of the different concepts being taught in the science classes in real-world applications with the migratory species, specifically in environmental science.”

All 20 available slots to attend were filled up within the first two days of the trip’s announcement. Bell said she has had to turn away over 15 interested students already.

For those who made it on the list to attend, permission slips are due by 3:15 p.m. on March 9.

Bell said that the administration has been fully supportive of the trip from the beginning.

“He (principal Martin Straub) really promoted the trip,” Bells said. “He really wanted this trip to happen. He was just so proactive about getting some kids out there to experience the migration.”

Bell’s hopes for the trip are for students to appreciate the opportunity to get out of the classroom and experience something out of the ordinary.

“I hope for students to just really enjoy it,” Bell said. “I hope that they really appreciate it and do something different.”

18lgregory@usd489.com