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.