At SES (Semester in Environmental Studies)

While most Ripon College students are at home for Fall Break, a few students are off-campus getting no break, but having an exceptional educational experience. Among them is Tyler Messerschmidt '14 who is currently a student at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.

He writes,
The Semester in Environmental Studies at Woods Hole has been a magnificent experience so far.  Even though this is probably the hardest I have worked in any college semester, it is also the least stressful semester I have had at college.  The people here are amazing and it is very refreshing to be able to work along side people with the same drive and interest in the environment that I have.  This makes it very easy to put in the hard work in the classroom, lab and the field needed to succeed in this course. 


Here are some of his pictures of the experiences he's enjoying.

Check back for results from his proposed research project: " I have a tentative plan.  I would like to look at how primary production and species composition have changed in a hardwood forest.  For many years this forest had a consistent supply of nitrogen from a waste water treatment plant.  This plant has recently upgraded to remove a large amount of the incoming nitrogen from the water, and no longer distributes this over the forest."



Collecting fish with a seine net



Filling in a soil pit



Measuring photosynthesis