Bus trip hardly qualifies as a break
Many of the students celebrated their arrival there with a moonlight
swim in the chilly waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
"Half of our kids have never even seen the ocean before,"
Russell says. "That's one reason we started the program, to give
our students an opportunity to see and do things they've never seen
or done before."
The trip is beneficial to faculty members, too. Different faculty members
volunteer to lead the class on each trip.
"I certainly have become a more informed teacher as a result of
these experiences," Russell says. "There is a lot our faculty
can learn on these trips, too."
Rebecca Krisher and Mike Schutz accompanied Russell this year.
Typically, Krisher spends spring break catching up on her spring semester
coursework. But she thought the trip would be a good opportunity to
get to know the undergraduate students better and to experience the
animal industry in another part of the country.
"It was a great experience," Krisher says. "I teach
a graduate-level course, so I don't really get to spend much time with
the undergraduates, so even the time on the bus became a good opportunity
to get to know them better."
Each spring tour covers approximately the same distance, around 3,000
miles, although the direction differs each year. The course has four
or five basic trips, so each is different from the previous trip.
Last year's tour visited Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. In 2001,
the class traveled to Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
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