[CINC] Eagles enthrall Newbury Park special education class

[Staci Kaye-Carr]

Eagles enthrall Newbury Park special education class

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jun/03/eagles-enthrall-newbury-park-special-education/

A live Internet feed showing two bald eagle chicks in their nest on  
Catalina Island is providing a link to the outside world for post- 
secondary special education students in Newbury Park.

Thanks to a computer in their classroom, the 11 students, aged 18 to  
22 with moderate to severe physical and developmental disabilities,  
are following the chicks’ progress since they hatched in late March  
near the town of Two Harbors on Catalina.

The live webcam feed comes from the Institute for Wildlife Studies,  
which operates the Channel Islands Bald Eagle Restoration Project. The  
project has been helping to repopulate the eagles on the islands after  
years of DDT exposure decimated their populations.

Teacher Lori Axelrod-Ngo runs the post-secondary special education  
program at Newbury Park High School, which is designed to prepare the  
students to move on to the next stage of their life as adults. She  
said the live link to something happening out in the world is valuable  
to her students.

“Anything real life makes it more meaningful to these students. You  
know, things that you and I take for granted in our daily lives are  
often very difficult for them,” she said.

“I have developed observation sheets, and what the students have to do  
is to determine who is on the nest, the time they saw the mom or dad  
at the nest, the proper day of the week, and then answer questions  
about what is happening, so it allows them to answer the who, what and  
when questions in a more meaningful context,” Axelrod-Ngo said.

Glenn Goulet, a Los Angeles County Fire Department captain, joined his  
20-year-old daughter, Stacey, for the program’s end-of-year party  
Wednesday and said monitoring the bald eagles has been a great idea.

“She can’t comprehend the whole thing, but she’s mesmerized by it and  
watches it,” he said, explaining that his daughter is at the  
developmental stage of a 2-year-old and visual learning works well for  
her.

John-Michael Pettis, 18, proudly showed mom Patsy Pettis and  
grandmother Ursula Walker the Internet feed on the classroom computer.

“It’s really great for people to be able to see video and to see how  
the babies are,” he said. “My favorite moment was when they were being  
born.”

Axelrod-Ngo posts comments from the students on a discussion forum  
that’s part of a Web site run by the Ventura County Office of  
Education that normally links to an eagle nest on Santa Cruz Island.  
The two chicks that hatched there in April died a few days later, so  
the forum has been monitoring the Catalina birds instead.

When the forum recently asked for suggested names for the two chicks,  
the Newbury class’s suggestion of Thunder and Lightning won the poll.

Miguel Blanco, 19, came up with Thunder and Storm, and at the  
teacher’s suggestion, agreed to replace Storm with Lightning.

“I like bald eagles because they’re really cool birds. I like it when  
the mom and dad feed the babies, that’s the best part,” Blanco said.

On the Net:

http://www.iws.org/bald_eagles/nestcam.htm