Children of the Friends Enrichment Program of Moorestown Friends Meeting gathered on Monique Begg’s front yard for the final chapter of their volcano project on Aug. 24.
In two prior sessions, they had built and painted volcanoes ready to erupt. The year of the Pompeii volcanic eruption was in August of 79 A.D. What had been planned as the culmination of a FEP science project had morphed into a historic moment.
Retired Moorestown librarian Maria Esche remembered that in 1961, when she was 7 years old and had her father’s approval, she took to school a copy of the November 1961 issue of “National Geographic” magazine, which featured the last moments of “a city’s death by volcanic fury” in Pompeii.
Two teenagers active in the Friends Enrichment Program – Joey Castallanos-Reyes, a Moorestown High School junior, and his brother Martin, a sophomore – had suggested a volcano project for the program. They were subsequently charged with showing younger children what they had learned about volcanoes in fifth grade.
Adding to the program, fifth grader Isaiah Preston presented his findings on the eruption of the Hawaiian Mauna Loa volcano. The largest volcano in the world, its last eruption began on Nov. 27, 2022, and ended 16 days later.
For more information about the Friends Enrichment Program, call (856) 235-3963 or visit https://moorestownfriendsmeeting.org/friends-enrichment-program-fep/.
