Students at Cache La Poudre Middle School are studying a river that runs right by the school for "River Week."
According to a school spokesperson, students are studying, writing about and being inspired in art this week as they visit and wade into the river.
On Tuesday morning, science students entered the river to test its velocity. In waders and with nets, Alisa Hicks' 8th grade class tested the speed of the current by dropping an orange into the river and measuring the time it took to traverse a set distance.
"Every year, the students at CLP Middle School study a different aspect of the river," said Hicks.
Hicks said the experiments are important because many residents of Laporte live near the river. Those same residents say they have seen the river erode over the years.
"It's wonderful that Cache La Poudre Middle School is so close to the Cache La Poudre river," said Hicks.
Students take their measurements and input the results into math equations to tell which parts of the river have a faster current.
"The deeper parts it's really hard to do because you pretty much get swept down the river a lot," said Isabelle Sheiner, an 8th grade student at the school.
River week runs until Friday.
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