Photo provided by Sarah Hoover
Geology students rock
o CLACKAMAS
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William Farris - >
BY COLE SOWDERS
STAFF WRITER
Perhaps y o u ’ve never h eard o f D eath
Valley, or you only know that it’ s a desert
in California.
Death Valley is the largest national park
in the lower 48 states, and the hottest,
driest and lowest o f all the national parks
in the U n ited S tates. H om e to m any
species o f plarits and anim als that have
adapted to the harsh living environments,
the Scien ce D ep artm ent o f B iology &
Geology at Clackamas Community College
has been taking trips to Death Valley for
about 30 years now.
C C C p ro fesso rs Sarah H oover and
Jennifer Bown both take students there
during spring break, Where they spend the
week learning about desert ecosystem s.
Sp ecifically th eir stud ies cap ture the
b io lo gy , geology, h u m an h isto ry and
botany o f the desert. Students study how
these systems relate and interact with one
another for a week while cam ping in the
national park and spending their days in
the valley itself.
It m aybe an intensive course for some,
but, “ Students walk away saying that it’ s
the best class they’ve had in their whole
life .” Hoover said
Hoover has been with the program for
about 18 years now and is the geology
instructor ait C C C , though she originally
Studied th e a te r. W h en she w en t to
com m unity college, she ended up taking
a geology class ju st for fu n , but soon
realized that, <cIt was lik e someone had
turned on a light and [I] thought, this is
the coolest dam n thing I’ve ever heard,”
Hoover said.
M any students attend each year, such
as Ivy Hodgkinson. Hodgkinson had never
thought geology would be her first choice,
o rigin ally m ajorin g in en viro nm ental
science and geography, Hodgkinson said,
“ I always wanted to pursue a career that
I could create a positive influence on the
earth. So w ith that in mind,.-'I started to
look for other fields. I just happened to
find geology and one day fe llin love with
It.”
Sh e, like H oover, has found geology
to be her h idd en lo ve. “ Now it fee ls
like the field that I was always trying to
find but I never thought I would enjoy.”
Hodgkinson said
By attending the Death Valley trip, not
only do students have th e astounding
e xp erien ce o f c re a tin g fr ie n d s h ip s
th ro u gh ca m p in g w ith one an o th er
and tak in g part in group experim ents
throughout the trip, but they also receive
four credits for participating in the class.
V icto ria T in ker, a form er editor for
The Clackam as P rin t, attended the trip
some years back. She, like m any others
attendees, referred, to it as a “ one o f a
kind experience;”
O rig in a lly ta k in g the c la ss, T in k e r
developed a love for the course (BI-165-C,)
and decided to take the Death Valley trip
because it was a good opportunity for her
to earn science credit w h ile exploring
an area she w ouldn’ t have traveled to
otherwise.
H aving instructors as guides proved
to be an extrem ely helpful tool as Tinker
was able to see som ething new each day
while on the trip. W ith the journal she,
used to collect inform ation about native
species, She says she would v isit again
with fam ily some day.
Death Valley is one of the United States’
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Professor Sarah Hoover helps run and
teach during the Death Valley trip.
greatest anom alies. Many students that
took the trip think that Death Valley is
an enlightening experience, hot only for
biologists or geblogists, but for people of
all walks of life.
The course is conducted over spring
break from March 21 to March 30, 2019
at a cost of $385. There will be three to
four required m eetings during w inter
term and interested students can contact
Jennifer Bown and Sarah Hoover for more
inform ation.
ON THE COVER: Eight Clackamas students traveled to Costa Rica in December to study and learn abroad.
Design by Jared Preble. Photos by Jonathan Villagomez.
Jared Preble
Desighed@clackamas.edu
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January, 23 2019