May Term

May 11 2021

Monday May 10, 2021 Today we got to sleep in a little bit later than most weekdays because we were headed to Mote’s Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration on Summerland Key for a day trip!...

May 10 2021

Today was the final day of our first week of service. Throughout the week, we have focused our efforts on a house outside of Marianna and today, we all worked together during the morning to finish the siding on two...

May 10 2021

Sunday May 10, 2021 Today, we attended Layton Baptist Church, which plays a significant role in the history of Goshen College’s marine biology program. Layton Florida was founded by Captain Del Layton. Del Layton had a dream of having a...

May 09 2021

Alexandria Flores, a sophomore Business major from Goshen, Indiana, describes our time on the water:  Before leaving Chain O’ Lakes State Park, we spent about an hour paddling around the lakes. Chain O’ Lakes has a total of eleven lakes,...

May 09 2021

Saturday May 8, 2021 We started off our morning with a discussion on positive interactions and how they may pertain to our work. One type of a positive interaction is mutualism; this is where both species benefit from the interaction....

May 08 2021

This post is written by Gabriella Jantzen, a senior Biology major from Granger, Indiana: Earlier this week, the 15 students in our Indigenous Economies class began our first camping excursion. Before we left to set up camp, we made our...

May 08 2021

Friday May 7, 2021 Today we started the day with a lecture on Mangroves and their ecology. We were introduced to three magnificent species that are native to Florida, these species include the Red Mangrove ( R. mangle), Black Mangrove...

May 08 2021

Ben Troyer is a Psychology major and senior from Kidron, Ohio.  He writes about our visit with an indigenous elder at Chain O Lakes State Park: After waking up in our campsite at Chain’ O Lakes and having a little...

May 07 2021

Aaron Lambert is a senior Accounting major from New Palestine, Indiana.  In this , Aaron recounts our first camping trip of the term: We arrived at the Chain O’Lakes State campground on a May afternoon with the slight April chills...

May 07 2021

May 07 2021

After a couple days of very little schedule, there was a shock factor on Monday as we all realized how tightly scheduled our days would be with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). The schedule each day with MDS is identical: wake...

May 07 2021

After our 17 hour drive we settled in for our first couple days of learning. On Friday, we took a trip to Marianna — the city we would be spending our two weeks with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). We spent...

May 07 2021

Thursday May 6, 2021 Today’s lecture was about sponges, mainly focusing on Spheciospongia vesparium (loggerhead sponge) and Ircinia campera (vase sponge). Our morning visit was to the hard bottom sponge site. This habitat consisted of little soft sediment/sand with different...

May 07 2021

Wednesday May 5, 2021 Wednesday morning started like the others sunny and bright. Today’s morning lecture greeted us with the challenge of creating the complex food web of the epipelagic zone only using a brief outline and an article we...

May 06 2021

Harrison Gingerich, a senior from Canby, Oregon, is a Sustainable Food Systems major.  In this post, he recounts key parts of a Zoom presentation by one of our indigenous speakers: Scott Shoemaker is a member of the Miami, a group...

May 05 2021

Tuesday May 4, 2021 On Tuesday morning, the sun was shining and the temperature was 81 degrees. In our first class of the day we discussed seagrass ecology and biology, as well as the benefits and threats to the seagrass...

May 04 2021

Monday, May 3, 2021 – The Bight The day began with a brief discussion on our observations and thoughts from our first snorkeling session on Sunday. Out of this conversation came the realization for the group that while there is...

May 03 2021

Ben Zimmerman is the author of today’s blog post.  Ben is a senior Sustainability Management major from Archbold, Ohio. May has finally arrived as spring is in full bloom here in Goshen. We started the week off with a leisurely...

May 03 2021

Sunday May 2, 2021 The Marine Biology class of 9 students has arrived and 0ur course has begun! Given the challenges over the last year, it has been a long wait for our students. Last May in 2020, their trip...

Apr 30 2021

Today’s post is written by Naomi Willis, a senior nursing major from Mishawaka, Indiana: We were honored to have a guest speaker, Rich Meyer, give our Indigenous Economies class some insight on the Potawatomi tribe and their land. Before we...

Apr 29 2021

Our first day of the May Term was spent outdoors, hiking along the Elkhart River for several miles, learning about a plant called the Serviceberry with the director of Environmental Resilience in the city of Goshen, and wondering aloud what...

Apr 28 2021

In this course, students work with Mennonite Disaster Service to help a community in Florida rebuild after Hurricane Michael and reflect on ways to respond that are ethical, sustainable and respectful. They also carry out a community based research project…

Apr 27 2021

We’re trying something new this year,  a Cultural Perspectives course based on the Goshen College campus with the bulk of our time spent outdoors.  We’ve planned a series of day trips, experiential learning opportunities and overnight camping adventures, with a...

Mar 01 2020

Just as this tour began, it ends with a full day of sunny waves, soft sand, good food and—wait for it—overnight travel. For many of us, this morning was bittersweet as we said goodbye to our wonderful host families before...