Writing Contest Winners 2017-2018
Second Place, Grades 6-8
Gus Sendlenski
Grade 6, McCall Middle School, Winchester
Megan Capobianco, Teacher
Birt's Birds Eye View of Boston Harbor
Oh! I didn't see you there. I was too distracted by the beautiful sights and sounds of Boston Harbor that I didn't notice I have a visitor. Come along with me on my flight and I'll show you around. My name is Birt Bird and I will be your tour guide today! The harbor and its thirty-four islands used to be so disgusting my mamma would make me and my brother Larry Bird stay away because that is where all of the mean birds lived like Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas. The harbor was so polluted that my cousin Jordan died because he had a sip of the harbor water.
My grandpa Russell has told me stories of how he used to fly around the harbor in the early 1980s. "Way back when, when I was young like you, I flew around the harbor and felt so lonely. It was only me. All of the other birds did not want to go close to the Boston Harbor because it was so polluted. One day when I was flying over the beach I saw a newspaper lying on the sand so I flew down to take a closer look. It was about how polluted the Boston Harbor was and how the federal court is forcing it to be cleaned. I saw an article that they were starting to build a six-billion-dollar wastewater treatment plant called Deer Island. Deer Island would have big metal containers that would hold all of the black sludge filled with pollution and melt it down to make electricity." After the cleanup my grandpa always said: "I hope y'all pass my stories down to your baby chicks so they can know how lucky they are that they can use the water without getting sick."
Now that you heard my grandpa's story from thirty years ago you can see how Deer Island has affected us animals, you humans, and the plants that live in Boston Harbor and its islands. As we fly through the sky we can see the Boston triathletes starting their swim in the clean and clear Boston Harbor water.
We also see people on their sailboats having a nice relaxing day with their families. People are also out swimming to cool off because of the hot, humid day we are having. Others are out with their little kids trying to get a big fish to take home and eat for dinner. Can you also see the kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes? Look there: we can even see a group of friends playing beach volleyball.
We also see many different kinds of animals in and out of the water. From the sky, we can see lobsters, crabs, and clams, jellyfish and striped bass. Sometimes when the water is really clear and I am having a lucky day I might see North Atlantic Right Whales and dolphins. On land over there we can see families of skunks, squirrels, and raccoons. The bird community is really happy with the cleanup project because now we can drink the water in the Boston Harbor and we can also eat the fish that we catch knowing that they will not be poisonous. I've heard from my sea creature friends that they are happy because they do not have to be living in the polluted water that their parents and grandparents had to live in. They get to live in a clean safe environment. Did you know that there are six very rare species that are protected: four animals and two plant types that are threatened but not yet on the endangered list. Hopefully, the clean environment will make them even stronger.
On our flight, we can also see all of the plants are happy now that the harbor is clean and unpolluted. On the thirty-four islands of Boston Harbor, most of the plants that live on the islands are not native to Massachusetts. The European settlers brought all of these nonnative plants here from Europe. Now there are at least five hundred twenty plant species that live on the thirty-four islands of the Boston Harbor. There are many, many different habitats that plants could live in. For example, plants could live in forests, woodlands, marshes, tidal pools, and beaches. Did you know that in 1997 the harbors and its islands became a national park?
Sorry pal, I've got to go! I am having a family reunion, with so many new relatives. All of my family members are coming from all thirty-four islands. Now you've seen for yourself how the Boston Harbor getting cleaned up has affected us animals, you humans and, plants in a good way. Always be grateful that you get to use the Boston Harbor and you won't get sick if you do.
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