| Global Field Studies: Belize |
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| ...As students traipsed through the jungle, they stumbled upon jaguar tracks, were brushed by blue morpho butterflies, and heard the call of howler monkeys. For Vanessa Petro ’06—a wildlife enthusiast from Catawissa, Pennsylvania—this trip expanded her field of interest. She has been studying bears and their habitats in North America throughout her time at Sterling College, culminating with a Senior Applied Research Project focusing on bear habitat. She was able to bring her experience of tracking grizzlies in California and apply it to tracking jaguars in Belize. As she plans for her graduate education, she realizes the possibilities of comparing tropical ecosystems with temperate ones. | |
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As if the rainforest was not enough to explore, the Sterling group donned snorkeling gear and headed for coral reef studies. Here, they examined the health of the coral reefs and the ecology of these amazing colonies. The students worked to extrapolate and understand impacts, such as tourism and hurricanes, to the coral reefs through observing transects along the reef. Between the two of them, Vanessa and Tim, have also traveled with Sterling College to Japan, Lapland, and Scandinavia. Both of them find inspiration in all of their travels. Tim describes the trip to Belize as the most inspirational for a naturalist; he loved being immersed in the forests there. Vanessa was in awe of the epiphytes (a plant that derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and usually grows on another plant) and jaguars, as she puts it, “I didn’t want to leave!” Both expressed that their college education would not have been as rich without the experience of Sterling’s Global Field Studies.Back to News and Views |
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