ps’ visit to Hoover Dam was one of the last stops on the trip. The building of the dam — an incredible feat of civil engineering that uses the Colorado River as a source of hydroelectric power — created Lake Mead, which flooded the Colorado River canyon, including settlements and towns that had formed along the river. Receding lake levels due to prolonged drought, a great source of concern, have exposed some ghost towns previously covered by Lake Mead.
This trip could not have been better engineered to supplement the Terrascope curriculum and give freshmen a hands-on learning experience about the fragility of many of the world’s natural resources. Back at MIT, these students can apply their new perspective to their studies, in particularly those students who are in the two Terrascope spring programs: Terrascope Radio and Communicating Complex Environmental Issues: Building Solutions and Communicating Ideas. Although students may have thought they had already learned about these areas, everyone took away something new from the trip. As Ana Vasquez put it: “Soon we will leave, but the Southwest will keep our steady gazes, questions and echoing steps.”