Above: in Clarksdale, Mississippi the students enjoy ribs, pulled pork, and chicken wings, followed by blues played by Big Jack Johnson.

Left: in West Virginia, students learned about the environmental impact of the mountaintop removal method of coal mining.

Above: there were some signs of life on Bourbon Street, but it was far less crowded than usual.

After learning about flood control and freshwater diversion from the Army Corps of Engineers, the group travelled to New Orleans. There they saw firsthand some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

From New Orleans the group visited Bayou Sorrel in the Atchafalaya River Basin to learn about the diverse ecosystem. In the bayou they saw great blue herons and snowy egrets in flight and a cottonmouth snake swimming to shore. Old and young growth cypress trees lined the shores.