When temperatures dipped far below zero in Montana in mid-January, most people stayed indoors and tried to spend as little time outside as possible. However, on January 12th, 16 students taking Krista Cunningham’s AP Environmental Science class at Central ventured to Yellowstone National Park to spend the week researching ungulates and tracking wildlife.
The five-day course included 15 hours of coursework and instruction combined with 20 hours of field research. Students participated in field investigations focusing on bison, other ungulates, and amphibians. They learned about wildlife management, environmental sustainability, and tourism while meeting with the a National Park Service wolf biologist. The students were also able to earn college credit from the University of Montana for participating in the trip.
Unfortunately, due to temperatures reaching as low as -40°F, students were unable to participate in all of the activities that had been planned for the trip. Instead, they improvised with various indoor activities, from watching movies as a group to indoor lessons about the tracking systems used to find wild animals like wolves and bison.
According to junior Zelaya Paumer, “The trip was so fun, and I loved getting to learn about all the science behind what goes on in Yellowstone. The only negative was the minor issue of the car not starting due to the cold.” Another student who joined the trip was junior Ava Yates. She said, “I had such a great time getting to know my classmates through various activities, and I loved going hiking in the snow and playing games with everyone.”
Overall, the APES excursion to Yellowstone was a unique and interesting experience for everyone involved, and fortunately, the cold temperatures definitely didn’t put too much of a dampener on the trip as a whole.
