Solomon School
Chicago, Illinois
Ellen A. Shea, Classroom: 7A

Hannah G. Solomon School Information

Solomon School is a Chicago Public School of Excellence, located in the Peterson Park area, in the northwest side of Chicago (6200 North and 3700 West). It is an economically and academically diverse school with a multi-ethnic population of approximately 400 Pre-K through 8th grade students comprised of approximately 40% White, 30% Black, 12% Asian/Pacific Islander.
A Northwest Magnet Cluster school, Solomon School offers an International Scholars Program. For example, Mandarin Chinese is taught throughout all grades. Technology is integrated across Solomon’s entire curriculum.
As a result of Solomon’s previous contribution to Project Exploration 2000, internationally renowned paleontologist Paul Sereno, from the University of Chicago, facilitated Solomon’s current participation in Gear Up, a college preparatory program for upper grade students.
Solomon parents are supportive and involved. As a result, Solomon has a strong sense of community, celebrating collective successes.

Class Description

This class consists of sixteen seventh grade interesting girls and boys. Among their varied interests are art, pottery making, acting, reading, traveling and team sports. They like dinosaurs, taking walks, animals, music, dancing, and using the computer.

Several mentioned that their plans for the future include being a dentist because the tools look interesting, a financial analyst, and lawyer. Another student would like to be a landscaper or carpenter. Watching television, playing video games, and going to movies is a favorite activity that these seventh graders like to do with their friends. This group of students is fun to know.

Student Questions:

1. How old were you when you realized that you wanted to become a paleontologist and what was it that interested you in this area?
   
   Andy Gray: Like most kids of my generation, I was pretty down with dinosaurs at a young age. You know, all those picture books and toys and what not. I distinctly recall starring at this picture of some guys working on the sauropods of Dinosaur National Monument for a long time with my brother and wishing that we could do such cool things. I work in paleontology, but am not a paleontologist. I actually consider myself a field biologist of junior stature with a diverse range of interests. I also collect data on fishing boats for the government.

   I've never been sure about what I want to be, specifically. Over the years from childhood to this early, silly stage of being an "adult" - all of my life fantasies have involved adventure. From treasure hunting, dreams of an Alaskan hermitage, the big ocean and hopes to someday sail all over the world on it, there has always been a drive to run around and see things. Paleontology is one way for me to actually take this universal desire from dream to reality.

2. On the way to your digging site in the Sahara, did you experience any surprises or interesting events?
   
   Andy Gray: The most amazing event for me so far has been the Cure Salee. At the end of our first night in In Gall a bunch of us were standing around a Fulani dance circle where young, eligible men hope to get chosen by a young woman for courtship over the next year. The men are dressed up in their finest and often painted, forming a circle shoulder to shoulder and facing inward as they stomped, clapped, and sang an amazing song.It was very dark and hard to tell what was really going on, until two older Fulani men took "Dirty" Josh Miller and myself by the hand and lead us into the circle.
   
   It’s hard for me to express how overwhelmed I was. Perhaps fifty men surrounded us and the song seemed to surge all over me. Everyone was smiling and having a good time as my new friend, Daguti, lead me around the circle to check out and encourage each hopeful youngster. Other older men were also within, leading the song and cheering the boys on. And there was one woman, approaching and receding from the edge of the circle to the center, singing and moving her arms and body. By the end of the session the circle had collapsed in on us till only a few men where left, so close that I could have touched most of them. Closer and closer - I almost felt that the whole thing would collapse in on us. Then it was over. Relaxed, the crowd fell into individuals. She had chosen.
   
   
3. How did you decide on this one special place in the Sahara to look for dinosaurs?
   
   Andy Gray: Our team leader Paul Sereno settled on all of the specific areas to explore on this mission. Using geological maps of the Sahara desert, he was able to find exposures of rocks that are likely to contain dinosaurs. Currently we are walking over rocks some 90 million years old, searching for dinosaurs that have never been seen before, as there are very few examples of African dinosaurs from this age.
   
   
4. How long does it take to dig up a whole dinosaur like Jobaria?
   
   Andy Gray: This depends on the rocks that hold the fossils (like how hard they are), how much of the animal is there, how big it is and how many people you have working on it. A huge beast like Jobaria could take weeks to dig up, even in relatively soft rock with half a dozen good excavators working on it all day, every day.
   
   
5. Parent Question: What evidence can you tell how a dinosaur died?
   
   Andy Gray: Often there is very little evidence, unfortunately. With exceptional preservation, situations where the bones are very well preserved and articulated (that is to say, arranged together as they were in life), one can sometimes find various clues in the bones (trauma) or even in the surrounding rock (struggle marks) and the general repose of the skeleton (such as animals stuck in the mud or covered in a flash sandstorm).