Geology students will apply skills from class when they venture to Yellowstone National Park this summer. Students enrolled in Geology 390: Geological Field Excursion will head out west for this year’s annual caravan to an area for hands-on study.

On July 6, students and faculty will head to Wyoming for a two-week study on the geological aspects of Yellowstone and the experience of geology outside the classroom.

There are 17 students enrolled in the spring seminar, all at different points in their geology careers. The course breaks into two parts – a one-night-a-week spring course and the actual field excursion in the summer.

Geology Professor Paul Doss will lead the class on the field excursion, and he said he is hopeful about the future trip.

“You can’t do geology unless you’re out in the field,” he said. “You have to do the study first in the spring semester so come July we can just pack up and hit the road.”

The geology department has a budget specifically for field trips, to allow students to apply what they have learned in the real world. Each geology course has a field trip planned, most of the time at no cost to students.

“Each department’s budget accommodates differences in educational focus,” Doss said. “We just have a larger field trip budget.”

Travel, lodging and camping is covered by the department budget, and students are left to cover food and personal expenses. On the trip, students and faculty will have a communal food bank and eat all their meals together.

“It is amazing that we can take these kinds of trips,” said Tony Maria, geology associate professor and second-in-command faculty member on the excursion.

Maria said the geology department’s commitment to the field trip makes the department special.

“We realize that seeing geology is crucial for our students, so we have devoted a large portion of our annual budget toward facilitating trips like this,” Maria said.

The summer excursions are a big deal for the department, and students are very excited to use the tools they have learned in the classroom out in the world.

Junior geology major Samantha McBride said she is ready to focus in the field this summer. “I couldn’t be more excited to spend two weeks with some of my best friends and do geology,” she said.