Live Eagle Camera Provides Digital Field Trip

By Darren Brown, News9.com

MIDWEST CITY, Oklahoma -- To watch a bald eagle raise her young eaglet would take months of braving the elements and lots and lots of waiting, but a Midwest City elementary school class does it every day.

Sheri Admire, a special ed teacher at Soldier Creek Elementary, has been instructing kids for more than 30 years, and she's always looking for new learning tools for her students.  So when she heard about the Bald Eagle Nest Camera, she knew she had to check it out.  

"It had been a buzz around the school, and of course I kinda really look for things like this y'know, that are beyond our classroom walls and beyond the textbooks," Admire said.  "And once I saw it I said, 'This is something we've gotta put up everyday.'"

Admire thought it would be a big hit, but couldn't have known just how big. Her students became intensely interested in the eagle family. And when the young eagle was hatched, her students came up with many names for the new arrival. They've settled on Spike Jr.

"The baby has been growing and getting bigger," said Gavin Avery, a 2nd grader in Admire's class.  "And it's starting to get black spots."

But the eagle family has had a much more profound efffect on other students in Admire's classroom.

Nathan Singleton admits that he wasn't very interested in school before the Bald Eagle Nest Camera.  "Yes, I used to hate school," said Nathan.  And Singleton knows he's lucky to be in Admires' class.  "I probably wouldn't get the eagle cam or the care she gives me," he said.

Sylvanister Childs was in the same situation.

"I hated it so bad I would try to skip, but now that we've been watching like, the eagle and stuff, I have something to look forward to when I come to school," Childs said.

And watching her students learn, according to Admire, is her passion.

"You take a kid from not wanting to be in school, uninterested, y'know they're not engaged with the schoolwork," Admire said.  "And we just kinda work with 'em and nurture 'em and love 'em.  They're taking personal ownership, which is to me way far more than just learning the ABCs and the 123s." 

"That's the passion of what this is all about."

BALD EAGLE NEST CAMERA IS A PROJECT OF THE GEORGE MIKSCH SUTTON AVIAN RESEARCH CENTER.  IT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WEATHER PAGE ON News9.com AND Newson6.com.