Breakthrough Miami Explores the Environment

By Francesco Lombardo '17

Recently, Breakthrough Miami at Palmer Trinity School took a field trip to Deering Estate. We met up at the school and then took buses over to the 444 acre archeological, nature, and history preserve. We had a full day of activities planned ahead of us.

What is the Deering Estate? As I stated above it’s a preserve with 444 acres of native Floridian ecosystems located right on Palmetto Bay. This estate used to belong to Charles Deering, who lived on the property from 1922 to 1927. In 1985 it was acquired by the State of Florida and it was turned into a preserve in 1989. Among the numerous things to see at Deering Estate, there is an ancient Tequesta burial mound located on the grounds. The kids had a lot to learn and see.

 

We started off the day by learning about what lives in the shallow waters of Cutler Bay. Each kid was put into a pair and they were given nets. They then had the task to see what types of animals they could pull out from the bay and into the plastic examination container. Shrimp, crabs, and fish were pulled up amongst the algae and red mangrove seeds. From there a caretaker explained how all the animals live together in this ecosystem and how algae was the home to many different types of animals.

 

After a quick lunch break we were ready to continue our day. We then followed a guide into the mangroves and had to create our own path. We climbed over fallen tree trunks, limestone rocks, and trudged through sticky black mud. After about 15 minutes of walking we arrived at the site of a crashed airplane. This plane was believed to have belonged to a drug cartel and made an emergency landing there in the 80s. We found our way back to the trail and from there it was back on the bus and back to Palmer Trinity.

 

Overall it was a wonderful day full of interesting sights. The kids part of Breakthrough Miami really enjoyed it and were exhausted by the end of the day.