MU | Features
Y ou think you know someone when you sit next to them in class or team up on a lab assignment . Maybe , though , you don ’ t really know someone until you ’ ve hiked up a mountain together . Or jumped into a glacial lake . Or talked to a moose . Or caught your first salmon . Or shared 17 awe-inspiring and sometimes grueling days together in the Alaskan wilderness .
“ We all really got to know each other ,” says environmental studies major Cassi Root ’ 17 . “ We have a special bond .”
Cassi was one of six students who took the Field Ecology course in Alaska this summer with biology Professor Jerry Sweeten ’ 75 . Director of Manchester University ’ s Environmental Studies Program , Sweeten has built his career on immersing students in hands-on learning and research experiences , and mentoring them into successful careers . He ’ s taken MU student groups to Alaska four times , always joined by his wife , Melinda Sweeten ’ 14 . This year ’ s group included several other alumni : registrar Lila VanLue ’ 79 Hammer , her husband and former trustee Steve Hammer ’ 77 , Collin Huffine ’ 15 and Jordan Lett ’ 16 .
Sweeten ’ s Alaska trips are a blend of academics , adventure and outdoor recreation . The physically challenging trip , he says , is something most people never get to do . “ I love watching the world get bigger for young people ,” says the 2009 Indiana Professor of the Year . “ It ’ s why we do what we do .”
The group explored much of what the 49th state has to offer . They visited the Alaska Sea Life Center , national parks , wildlife refuges , a fish hatchery and the Kenai Moose Research Center , the largest in the world . “ The moose were almost like giant puppy dogs ,” says Cassi . They also saw eagles , whales , otters , seals , glaciers and a bear .
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