The Final Day of First Session

By Johnica Morrow

Books are being returned to shelves in the library and final touches are being made to project reports and powerpoint presentations. Yes, it's that time. It's the last day of the first session here at Cedar Point and students are busy wrapping up what has been a fantastic three weeks. Ornithology students are reflecting on all of the birds that they have come to know inside and out. Life 121 students are thinking about the diversity of life and about how they aren't afraid to pick up crayfish anymore. Later today, students will present some of their work from this session and then everyone will be off for their next summer adventure.

Students arrived three weeks ago with nervous excitement and anticipation. Today, they walk away with a semester's worth of new knowledge, new friends, and memories of seeing living organisms in their natural environments. They've learned lots of new words and experienced the natural world as can only be experienced through immersion into nature itself. 

Students proudly display their jars of termites collected earlier this week.
Students looked for symbiotic protists within the guts of these insects and found many different species.

Over the last three weeks, students have eaten both familiar and totally foreign dishes provided by our outstanding kitchen staff. They have listened to many individuals on Wednesday night talk about their research interests involving birds, fish, turtles, and parasites. They've drunk hundreds of cups of coffee, either to stay awake to work on projects/to study or to wake themselves up after having a late night of working. They've also met dozens of high school and middle school teachers who have been at the station during this last week as part of a program to train teachers in new ways to impart scientific knowledge on their students.

Life 121 students pose for a class photo in the rain before giving their crayfish project presentations.

The departure is sure to be bittersweet. Students will be filled with both relief to have completed all of the work associated with squeezing a semester's worth of material into three weeks and with sadness that they will be leaving the place that has been home for almost a month. We hope that many of these students will find their way back to CPBS to take some of the other courses offered either this summer or in future summers!