On Friday January 8th, former student Larry Gumina ventured back to Middletown High School North to hold a presentation about his trip to Ecuador. Larry was accompanied by Mr. Eric Hoblitzell, the AP Environmental science and Nutrition teacher here at North.

The two went on this adventure to Ecuador to work on and observe a camera trap program. These camera traps are ran by Diego Mosquera who has been featured in National Geographic. They worked throughout Yasuni National Park in Ecuador installing cameras and viewing the photographs taken. The cameras captured photographs of several unique animal species including an Ocelot, giant anteater, and a giant armadillo.

Overall there trip to Ecuador was both informative and interesting. Larry told stories of how a chameleon lived  on the ceiling in their room, how they chewed a plant and ended up with blue tongues, and how Mr. Hoblitzell was really good at fishing. They learned that the beautiful and heavily biodiverse land they visited is reputed to be the biologically richest place on earth. However Mr. Gumina and Mr. Hoblitzell shared that this land is threatened to be destroyed by the oil industries of the world.

The presentation ended with an inspiring message; Larry told the students to work hard in high school so that we could go interesting places in the future. He also shed some advice about helping the planet, he inspired many to stop using plastic water bottles and to use  refillable ones instead.

Larry is currently studying at the University of Colorado Boulder and through his presentation he was able to teach many students and teachers about his project in Ecuador and about the environmental issues that need to be addressed.