The Brown & White

Ever wonder what it would be like to have a black bear cub wander up to your campsite and smell the fresh gnocchi sitting in the campfire pot? Lehigh students who attended field camp in summer 2007 can tell you exactly what the experience is like.

This is Lehigh's 34th year offering field camp, an intensive field training program designed for earth science majors and run by earth and environmental science professor Frank Pazzaglia.

The program begins at Lehigh with about 40 students and 10 staff and continues across the country in vans all the way to Idaho and back again.

Reactions to field camp from students who attended this past summer were positive.

Senior Marc Elasmar said he had such a good time in 2007 on field camp that he's going back as staff next year.

"We drove across the country, camped in tents the whole time," Elasmar said. "It sounds terrible because you work almost everyday but it ends up being the best time of your life."

Elasmar said field camp might not be for everyone.

"If you don't like the outdoors, then the trip isn't for you," Elasmar said. "It's one of those things where if you like the outdoors and you're willing to try something new than you're just going to have a great time.

But its not all fun and games.

"It's six credits in a month so there's a lot of work, but at the same time there's enough free time for you to have fun."

The camp is broken down into the traditional geo-science curriculum, which concentrates mainly on geologic mapping, and an environmental science curriculum, which includes a broader range of projects, such as ecology and water collection and analysis.

Ellyn McFadden, '08, attended field camp and said the program is geared to students finishing off their geology and environmental science education by giving students hands-on experience.

"The trip is really fun because you get to know everyone on field camp better during this time and you get to stop at some really amazing places along the way, like the Badlands in South Dakota," McFadden said.

Robin Stallard, '08, thought that one of the best aspects of the trip was that the destinations were places one may not typically get to travel.

"The program did a great job about giving background information," Stallard said. "We learned things we never would have if you did the trip by yourself."

Although both the geology and environmental science program overlap in the basics, each group specializes in their particular field during the day.

Graduate student Michael Bubb said geologists at camp look at the rock formations, trying to figure out their orientation and structure - the fundamentals of geology.

This differs from the environmental students, who spend the day sampling water quality, studying land surface movements and figuring out ecological problems.

Bubb said field camp really allows students to grasp important real world skills that are difficult to learn in a classroom setting.

Bubb said field camp extends beyond just the education and field experience because students also cook their own food, set up camp, and spend all day together.

"It's a team effort, there's no staff to prepare everything for you, you have to make it as you go," Bubb said. "This is probably harder, but more rewarding and fun."

Pazzaglia said everything is communal. Students drive, camp, shop, prepare food, eat and clean up together.

"It's a real family atmosphere," Pazzaglia said. "A bond develops between the faculty and the students in this program that is absolutely unique. No other Lehigh program can foster this bond. Camp with someone for 35 days and see how well you actually get to know them."

Field camp attracts students from other schools, Pazzaglia said.

"Many people have commented about the exposure field camp produces for Lehigh," Pazzaglia said. "If we do a good job at camp then students from other schools will think positively about Lehigh and it reflects well on us."

With more than three decades of trips, field camp has its traditions. One of them is a competition of who can find the tackiest gift from one of the dozens of tourist traps field camp students pass by during their trip across the country from the midwest and Ohio valley region.

"Everyone makes a huge bonfire and a competition is held to see who picked up the strangest thing in a rest stop on the way out, McFadden said. "Some of the things are really tacky and the fire was huge."

Another highlight, McFadden said was camping at Yellowstone National Park and being allowed to roam around the park during a day off.

"It is such a beautiful place and buffalo are everywhere," McFadden said. "You could actually reach out and touch one if that wasn't such a dangerous idea."

Real world experience culminating three to four years of class work is one of field camp's major strengths, Blaze Meyers, '08, said. The difference between learning about formations that are millions of years old and actually touching one in person is huge.

"I remember pulling over on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere to look at a hot spring and learn about the processes that form this aquatic feature," Meyers said. "It's so hard to keep your concentration at a time like that because you are surrounded on one side by the magnificent snow cap peaks of the Tetons, a bubbling hot spring on another and yet another view of the greenest rolling hills beyond that."

Students travel in eight vans and take turns driving.

Luke Ranieri, '08, who attended field camp last year recalled the drives as one of his favorite parts of the trip.

"I was driving one of the last vans in the line and we were snaking through the canyons and the scenery was incredible," Ranieri said. "Each van has a radio so we could listen to lessons about the geographic regions we were passing through. It was a stunning experience."

Food is always a focal point of the days, which are often long and tiring. Although most lunches were the same - peanut butter and jelly - dinners were often extravagant traditional Italian cuisine, prepared by field camp students and staff.

"Pazzaglia is an excellent cook and so is his daughter, who is a high school student and she has grown up going to field camp," Ranieri said.

Other students echoed the importance of food.

"It was a good time, the food made it that much better. If there weren't legit meals, I probably wouldn't have been able to survive it," said Matt Bacon, '07.

Meyers said field camp inspired him to become a high school science teacher.

"I remember only one course relating to earth and environmental science being offered at my school, and it had been pigeon holed into a fly-by course," Meyers said. "I would like to teach a class in this area that not only challenges students' critical thinking regarding the environment, but equips them with the knowledge they will need to have in order to live in a period of global change."

The equipment and preparation for field camp is mostly basic camping equipment, but some of the gear is essential, Elasmar said.

"In June, you don't expect it to get cold, but it gets freezing," Elasmar said. "A good sleeping bag keeps you warm and good sleep is important to make sure you're not tired for hiking."

Pazzaglia said students should look into what field camp could offer them.

"I'm not sure that all Lehigh students are aware of the program and that it is accessible to many students," Pazzaglia said, "particularly those in the earth and environmental sciences and other students in biosciences and environmental engineering."