The Journey Begins
August 18, 2017
Brent Olson
The Expedition is a dream come true—spending a full semester in the field, traveling from place to place, building a committed community of learners. Many of our colleagues have been bringing students into the field for years, including Bonnie Baxter with the Great Salt Lake Institute and our beloved late friend Ty Harrison. The idea also builds on our experience with short environmental studies field courses, as well as the popular May Term Study Experiences that take Westminster students around the world. Classrooms, lectures, and books are all valuable, but there's nothing like actually going to the places you're studying.
The American West contains extraordinary landscapes, full of overlapping and sometimes conflicting stories. The Expedition gives us the chance to learn many of those stories, learn from those landscapes, and meet some of the people who live and work in the West: Native peoples, the descendants of pioneers, and the men and women who manage our iconic public lands.
The students accompanying us on the expedition bring their own energy, curiosity, and enthusiasm to the trip as well. Collectively, they are committed to untangling the complicated knots of Western history and environmental issues. Individually, they are climbers, artists, writers, filmmakers, activists, and scientists. As we travel through the West they will be sharing their own observations and stories here.
On to the Greater Yellowstone!