[Copied from an original made during the excursion]
After a very long 13 hour journey to Baton Rouge, LA and an early wake-up call yesterday, we allowed for a slight sleep-in today before returning to Dauphin Island. We left New Orleans for the last time for Dauphin Island. The purpose of the return trip was to gather additional footage of the island and speak with a few more residents.
We arrived at Dauphin Island to see more people fishing and taking in the sun on the beaches. Our first visit was the East End where the ferry docks. Off shore we saw natural gas rigs and many boats. The shore was bustling with visitors engaged in water activities including swimming. The beaches were just opened two days before our arrival. It seemed as though nothing of an oil disaster ever occurred. We filmed wildlife and waterfowl for about an hour until we received a return call from council member Mary Thompson who received permission to talk to us from the Mayor of Dauphin Island. We met Ms. Thompson at the town hall and interview her about the impact of the oil spill on the island. She noted that prior to the oil spill there was a lack of consideration to renovate the beaches after Hurricane Katrina. Since the spill, there is better hope that their wishes will come true.
Thanking Mary for the interview we went to the Sea Lab to interview the expert about the impact the oil has on aquatic life. Unfortunately, the expert we were given information about was unavailable. Therefore, we went through the aquarium and acquired some interesting footage of Gulf aquatic sea life such as jellyfish, flounder, shark, and alligator.
We revisited the now bustling Lighthouse Bakery to acquire additional footage for Zach's news package and then left the island around 3pm to make our long journey back to the Midwest.
It was a very long night back to Terre Haute and Charleston arriving back at 5:30am in Terre Haute and 6:30am in Charleston. Exhausted from the intense weekend the team experienced a new perspective the impact of the oil spill had on the Gulf residents. Although we visited only a few locations, we learned that the impact of the oil spill on humanity along the Gulf coast is very much a serious and uncertain situation. We hope that our footage and interviews in the documentary film as well as the news packages that Zach and Mike work on at WEIU will provide Central Illinois an awareness of humanity's desire to adapt and return to a life of normalcy.
The excursion was an integrative learning opportunity that could not have been experienced in any other way. Had we not made the trip, we would still be unable to comprehend the impact on so many personal lives.
We greatly appreciate the support from our contributors who made it possible for us to make the trip to learn more about the impact and bring the individual stories back to Central Illinois and the students at Eastern Illinois University. Thank you!
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