Beach Surveying with Cunningham Middle School Students                  MS students Melinda Martinez and Michael Rittenhouse assisted Tiffany Caudle from the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin on October 1, 2015 to engage Cunningham Middle School students in the study of their natural environment. Cunningham Middle School is one of many schools along the Texas coast participating in the Texas High School Monitoring Program sponsored by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). Michael Rittenhouse teaching students how to measure distance of longshore current (Photo credit: Melinda Martinez). Students work together to gain a better understanding of dune and beach dynamics on the Texas coast. They learned how to measure the beach-dune topography, map vegetation and shorelines, and observe coastal processes such as wind speed and direction, wave height and period, and longshore transport. Students make several trips throughout the year continuously monitoring specific areas along the barrier island to help contribute to a long-term study of shoreline change along the Texas Gulf coast. Tiffany Caudle teaching students how to measure the changes in topography using the equipment (Photo credit: Melinda Martinez). Students from Cunningham participated in a new beach survey on October 1st near Whitecap Blvd. on North Padre island. The new profile is the only one on North Padre island that traverses a sea wall and will provide the students a different perspective on how beach topography changes with sea walls. The study area is also closely monitored by the Texas GLO. Data collected from the student’s efforts is valuable for coastal communities and public awareness. New beach survey along the sea wall (Photo credit: Melinda Martinez).