PLATTE
CANYON
EARTH SCIENCE
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.