Taking classes during the summer doesn’t have to suck. Not that the classes necessarily suck, but spending what little summer Montana grants us in a classroom can be tough. Luckily for those who love school and the outdoors, MSU offers several summer courses that are designed to bring the classroom outdoors.
As an Earth Science major, I have had the pleasure of taking a paleontology field course last summer and I am currently taking a geology field course. In fact, I am writing this article in front of a campfire with a hot tin cup of coffee, trying to dry out my hiking boots. I had fried rattlesnake and potatoes for dinner, while one of my classmates played bluegrass on his hiking guitar. There is a small lawn darts tournament underway, and our professor is relating some story about his fieldwork in Chile.
However, it is not all just campfire songs and stargazing. Tomorrow, I will go to class having not showered for several days. The weather for the past couple weeks has alternated between wind, rain or snow. You must also be reasonably physically fit, as you are expected to produce a geologic map from an area of about 12 square miles of fairly rugged terrain. This requires you to hike the majority of it and identify every different rock type and discern their relationships to each other. To top it off, you’ll probably also be pulling an all-nighter before your half-day off and the end of the week to finish all of your assignments on time.
To be perfectly honest, it has been one of the most physically and mentally challenging things I have ever done. Which is why it feels so good to stand on the wind-blown top of a mountain overlooking your field area knowing that you have a decent knowledge of it’s geologic history.
Not all field courses are this intense, but the central theme is the same -- bringing the classroom outdoors. If you’re still shopping for a major and have an interest in the natural sciences and the outdoors, it is well worth your time to consider the field component of a major. Whether you are going into geology, ecology, archeology or biology, a lot of the most important data has yet to be collected. MSU offers tons of summer field coursed that teach you how to do just that. Check out http://www.montana.edu/summer/specialcourses.html for a summary of some the field courses offered.
It is also important to consider that most of these summer courses may have hefty lab fees and are often not covered by normal scholarships. However, they offer once in a lifetime learning opportunities in some of the most beautiful places in Montana. It’s hard to beat that for a classroom experience.
