Oceanside High School students to visit Galapagos

Fourteen Oceanside High School students will make the voyage to the Pacific Ocean over February break to study at the birthplace of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, the Galapagos Islands.

While some students taking Spanish and Italian classes will be traveling to the countries whose language they study during the winter break, students in the marine science, science research and Advanced Placement biology and environmental courses will have the opportunity to see the islands where Darwin first developed his groundbreaking model of natural selection.

According to Katherine Chapman, director of science in the Oceanside School District, the students will begin the trip in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, on Feb. 16.

“They’ll spend a day [in Quito] getting acclimated to high altitudes and doing some sight seeing, like the San Domingo Church,” said Chapman. “From there, they’ll fly out to Santa Cruz Island, where the Charles Darwin Research Station is located.”

Chapman said the group won’t be visiting every island in the Galapagos. They will visit either Bartolome Island or Isabela Island one day, and then North Seymour Island or Floreana Island the next.

The students will also go to Cotopaxi National Park, which, according to Chapman, is home to Equador’s declining llama population and the world’s highest active

volcano.

Heather Hall, the science research teacher, and Mark Gary, one of the marine science teachers, will chaperone the trip.

“There’s a saying in biology that nothing makes sense unless it’s in the light of evolution, and natural selection is certainly the founding process of evolution,” Chapman said. “The Galapagos is the place to go. This is where it all began.”