Hanford Field School

 

Like normal in PLP we went on a field school at the beginning of the year to help advance the learning for a project. Our first unit for this year was about the Manhattan project and the making of the atomic bomb. Luckily for us, one of the three main sites for the production of the bomb happened to be in Hanford, Washington, only about a 5 hour drive from where our school is. Our goal for this trip was to learn more about the production of the bombs, and to make a video on it. If you want to read more about the project click here.

I’m going to be completely honest, I was not excited for this trip at all. I was actually dreading going on this trip. The reason for that is my boyfriend Adam’s appendix had ruptured two days before we were supposed to leave for the trip and I did not want to leave him in the hospital. It made it very difficult to have any fun on this trip, but I did have a little fun.

On this first day of the trip we went to Portland just because it was close to Hanford and our teachers wanted to. We went to Powell’s City of Books which is a giant new and used book store. They literally had a book on EVERYTHING. When we arrived there we were given two tasks to complete. The first task was to look for books on something we liked and then take a picture of the one with the weirdest name. I love Beyoncé but I wasn’t sure there would be one with a weird title. I was wrong.

Our second task was to get into small groups and find the weirdest book title we could, then take pictures to act out the title. I worked with Hannah and Sofia and we found a pretty weird book.

That night in Portland we went to my favourite restaurant on the trip. It was a place called Fire on the Mountain and it had AMAZING chicken wings. When I go back to Portland I am definitely going there again.

After dinner we went to this really cool hotel called McMenamins Kennedy School that used to be an elementary school. The classrooms had been turned into guest rooms and the principals office was a bar. We went to go see a movie in the old theatre and it was pretty cool. It was a good start to the trip.

The next day we went to Reed college to see their nuclear reactor and it was really cool. It was in a pool that is 25 feet deep and it glowed blue. They couldn’t have the whole class in the same room as the reactor at the same time so we had to split up. The first group got to experience a Safety Control Rod Axe Man or a SCRAM. The SCRAM automatically shut down the reactor because something bad happened. An automatic SCRAM only happens around 10 times a year so that group was very lucky.

Another place we went to that day was the Maryhill Museum Of Art. In the museum we had to pick a piece of art that we liked and were curious about, and make a video about it. There was a lot of choices but I eventually found something I liked.

The next day we actually started to do stuff related to the project. We went on a tour of the town of white bluffs before WWII. This still didn’t really of much to do with our project but it was kinda cool. We got to see an hold house made out of stones and cement, and we got to see an old high school. We had two amazing tour guides named Joe and Larry and they were very knowledgeable. After the tour we went to the REACH museum because they had a really cool exhibit on the Manhattan project. We are able to learn more there and do more filming for our projects.

On the last day of the trip we went on another tour, but this one was wayyyyyyy cooler. On this tour we got to go to the B reactor and see where they made the plutonium. We had some really nice guides on this tour and they let us interview them. This tour really helped me understand just how big the reactor was and how quickly they made it. It also helped me realize how much work into making the atomic bombs and how many people were needed to do it.

Finally it was time to head home. This trip really helped me gain a deeper understanding of how much work went into making the atomic bombs. It added another level to my video by letting us film on scene and get amazing interviews. It wasn’t the most fun trip but it definitely helped my learning. Here is a video I made about the trip. Enjoy!