What students, faculty, and recent graduates say about Biology & Natural Resources at Principia.

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Being environmentally aware

"The first day of biology class my freshman year," says a recent graduate who double majored in biology and history, "the professor asked if anyone had noticed the aluminum can and money he'd placed on the sidewalk outside the classroom. We said 'yes.' Looking out the window, he said, 'I see the money was picked up, but not the can,' making the point that we need to become environmentally aware. From that moment I knew, 'This is what I want to do.'" She continues, "As manager of the student-run greenhouse, I was able to organize my life around my interest in botany. It was my laboratory where I could get my hands on whatever I wanted to do. I didn't know what I was doing when I started, but I learned through reading, listening, and experimenting." Another student chose biology as her major after visiting Principia her senior year in high school and seeing the different aspects of biology—ornithology, insect ecology, limnology, genetics, wildlife management—in the classes she visited and discussed with professors.

Local ecology resources abundant

"What we call biology here," says a senior with a minor in environmental chemistry, "is geared toward ecology and environmental issues. Most other colleges do more pre-med stuff . . . ." A professor explains, "Principia's program gives students a well-rounded view of ecology—including human society. Our campus has over 2,600 acres of fields, woods, bluffs, and one of the last original prairies in Illinois; we're at the confluence of three rivers that drain 80 percent of the North American continent. The Mississippi is a major migratory flyway for birds. The Riverlands Project in nearby Alton is the country's largest wetland recreation area. Pere Marquette State Park and the Mark Twain Wildlife Refuge are close by." Another senior says, "Prin really emphasizes getting outside, treating the outdoors as a laboratory, instead of only being inside with artificial elements. That's something you usually don't experience until graduate school." Another biology professor adds, "We have an oak-hickory forest on campus, a threatened environment. We can walk out the back door of the classroom into a stand of oak or hickory trees to look at what we've been talking about in class."

Becoming a scientist

"The rigor of Prin's biology program is disguised by the intense fun of learning really relevant things," says a recent graduate. "I've met people at my graduate school who earned biology degrees from very highly-rated schools but never once had a field biology course. In every biology class I took at Principia, we went outside. That hands-on experience gives you emotional and personal contact with what you're studying. It makes it part of your life, and you remember it." A professor points out, "Students have been used to learning from books and not necessarily through observation, actual research, or testing. Field training can be pretty demanding. Students learn to think in new ways. Especially, they learn how to ask questions and pursue the answers—a fundamental part of being a scientist." A senior confirms this, saying, "The biology major takes a lot of hard work; it's like any other science, requiring a lot of dedication."

Putting field work on paper

"We focus on developing skills, but there's memorization of Latin terms, too," says a bio major referring to his Plant Taxonomy course. "You have to love nature and love studying nature. We learn to understand ecosystems and to look logically for the solutions to problems." A senior says, "What I found especially demanding was the writing. In biology, I had to develop the ability to write like a scientist, supporting my hypotheses or assumptions with facts." And a recent graduate reflects, "Being one-on-one with the professors in every class was an amazing factor in my education." One of those professors adds, "The students do a lot of group projects. Our classes are a hybrid between lecture and team-type investigation of the material."

Field study in other lands, and under the sea

"The field-study abroad to New Zealand was an opportunity to learn firsthand and see the practical side of biology and conservation. It was a high point for me," says a senior. The New Zealand Abroad and the marine biology Puerto Rico Abroad are high points for many biology majors, but some students also create their own field-study programs. One student designed an independent study in Belize and Guatemala, looking closely at agroforestry in the rain forest—"a way of cultivating crops that are native to the land." She wrote a 60-page paper to document her findings and gave two slide presentations back on campus. Another student, who carried out an independent rain forest study in Costa Rica, says, "The faculty are very accessible to help you pursue your own emphasis in your studies." Even if a student doesn't choose an abroad option, says a senior bio major, "The field trips, including overnight trips—into the Ozarks, for instance, to study the clear streams—are fun. You learn lots while getting to know your professors and classmates better."

Preparation for life

"This major prepares you for life," says a senior. "You learn how connected everything is. Pollution in one area necessarily affects productivity in another. Politics, economics, everyday life, and the environment are all related." A graduate, who also majored in secondary education, says at Principia she "learned to attack a problem and figure out how to solve it, how to do something about it. Basically, I learned not to be afraid to do the very best." Her training paid off, she says, because when she went to graduate school she felt almost "over prepared." She regularly took leadership roles in class projects and discussions while other students held back. Another recent graduate, a history and biology double major, is executive director of Utah Open Lands Conservation Association, an organization similar to the Nature Conservancy and 1200 land trusts around the country, preserving historic wildlife and agricultural values of open land through assisting land owners on preservation techniques. Her job developed from an internship set up through the Biology Department. She says, "Prin took a different approach to biology and understanding the ecosystem. That has helped in my work as we talk about functioning systems, whether we're talking about managing a ranch or an ecosystem.

An eye-opening major

"It's an eye-opening major on life," says a junior environmental science major. "I'm taking a class that focuses on consumerism and shows how our views of the environment have developed since frontier days. You become aware of how we use our resources today, where our food and clothing come from, whether we use our resources or exploit them. It's a collective study that makes connections between sociology and the sciences, especially biology, and shows how they relate to the environment; basically, how we are using the earth." A professor adds, "The environmental science major bridges the gap between the more traditional disciplines. It threads together biology, geology, chemistry, hydrology, and physics. It's a versatile discipline, but comes at the expense of hard college work."

Saving our world

"What I like most about environmental science is learning how to save our world," says a senior who is also an education minor. She adds, "From our professors and our own research we're learning to change our own lifestyles and how to help others understand what needs to be done—to quit consuming so much and to work within the ecosystem instead of trying to control it." A recent alum has dedicated her graduate studies to the prairie, saying, "I'm in the ecology section of the biology department at Kansas State University, working on a 9,000-acre research prairie that belongs to the Nature Conservancy. It's a huge research effort."

Making connections

"After I graduate, I know I will be ahead of many other students in my ability to focus on making connections, solving problems, and understanding what's really happening below the surface of what seem like obvious issues to many people," says a senior. A professor adds, "The whole environmental field is actually looking at applied ecosystems. It's looking at the interface of people with the environment. These students are leaving Principia with a working knowledge of how to help people live more in harmony and with less impact on their environment. That translates into good problem-solving skills."

The environment of the major itself

"We're outside a lot, not sitting in lecture classes," says a junior. "And although sometimes you want the teachers to give you the answers, most of the professors in our department, I can safely say, will not. They want you to find it out on your own. They'll guide you, but you come to your own understanding of how to use the science effectively, instead of simply memorizing answers without knowing how to apply them. Our professors are enthusiastic about what they're doing, and that makes it fun for us." A senior with minors in business administration and women's studies says she likes the advantage of small classes for her field study. "The time commitment in a science major is demanding. Most of the classes are two hours every day, and we do many field projects," says another environmental science major. "You keep busy going out to your field-study area to see what's changed." A transfer student says, "We had mostly lecture classes at the college I attended before. Sometimes I miss that, but I feel that I will leave Principia with the ability to process information, to present and discuss ideas. Those skills are needed in the work force. We are being trained in how to work." A graduate adds, "I learned at Principia how to reason well, how to think clearly, and how to speak and communicate effectively. It is a well-rounded background, and it really gets you a lot farther."

Finding direction in field work

"I designed and presented educational programs for children and adults at a national park near my home to fulfill the requirement of an internship or project," says a junior. She continues, "It gave me a direction. I know now that I really want to do this kind of work. It was my internship that got me the job I'll have this summer. And the professors in the department were very helpful when I was arranging the internship." A graduate says of his internship in his home state of Colorado, "It just furthered my desire to learn more about the outdoors, forestry, wildlife, environmental organizations, and to go back to school for my master's." Another recent graduate, while still a student, did an internship with the Department of Energy in Washington state where she was involved in environmental law. She says, "I worked for the contractor for the Department of Energy at a nuclear-waste facility where they had made plutonium for bombs during World War II."

Making a world of difference

"The environment is currently a two hundred billion dollar industry, and growing fast," says an environmental science professor. "Every business is affected by environmental regulations. Our students who work hard in the sciences can expect to fare exceptionally well in the job market when they get out of college." A senior with a minor in education is heading into the future well focused, saying, "Instead of graduating from college and not knowing what I can do with my major, I'm headed to work with the National Park Service for the summer, and then I'll start on a master's degree in education this fall." After graduation, one alum worked on the northern spotted owl survey for the state of Washington. He says, "Since I did mostly field work at Prin, it didn't seem like such difficult work." He then worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation on a bobwhite-quail study. And now, he says, "I work for a consulting firm in Orlando, Florida, doing wetland work. I do vegetational transects and take care of exotic species, in addition to introducing desirable species. Eventually I'll be managing the whole wetland."