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PLATTE CANYON 
EARTH SCIENCE

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Christal's Speech
 

Hi, my name is Christal Ruelas.  I am a student at Platte Canyon High School. 

 First, on behalf of my class, I would like to thank Governor Bill Owens, Carl Miller, Ken Chlouber, and all the other legislators for their support of our proposal to make rhodochrosite our state mineral. 

We first ran across this idea when our Earth Science teacher Mr. Ghist, told us that Colorado had no state mineral.  This fact is surprising to us since Colorado owes so much to its mineral resources.  Immediately, Mr. Ghist asked if we would like to propose one for our state.  We spent some time researching what minerals would best represent our state.  We narrowed down the list based on their significance to our state, their appearance and many other characteristics. When we were down to two choices, we would vote, then debate our choice, vote again, debate it again, and so on.  We took our proposal around to a number of classes in our school to see if they agreed with our choice.  Everyone agreed that rhodochrosite was the best.  We sent a letter to our representative Carl Miller telling him of our idea and asking for his support.   The rest is history.  Two and a half months from our original letter and now we are here.

Even though rhodochrosite is not the most economically significant mineral from Colorado, it is by far the most unique and distinctive one that we have.  Its brilliant red color immediately catches your eye.  After all, the Spanish translation for Colorado is the color red.  The finest crystals are found in Park County where we go to school and it was one of our reasons for selecting it.  In fact, the best locality is near the center of Colorado, and with rhodochrosite’s red color, you might say that it represents a bit of the “Heart of Colorado”.

Thank you.