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Arts and Sciences | Featured | StudentsSeptember 11, 2025

Education Goes Far Beyond the Classroom for Geoscience Student

Written By: Tina Alvey Dale

Because a textbook can provide only so much when it comes to education, students at the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith get the opportunity to extend their education outside of the classroom.

For Ella Driscoll, this opportunity took her to Colorado for the 鈥渃oolest experience鈥� of her life.

The junior environmental geoscience major had never been further west than Oklahoma until she went on the Maymester trip to Colorado early this summer.

Geoscience goes far beyond just rocks, Ella said. It is water, plants, land structures, history, and all the basics of how the world functions.

鈥淚 love learning about how everything is intertwined, and Colorado is the perfect geographical example of this,鈥� Ella said. 

The geoscience trip took Ella and fellow students to Pike鈥檚 Peak, the Garden of the Gods, Rocky Mountain National Park, Dream Lake, the Great Sand Dunes, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

鈥淟ooking out over the canyon has the craziest effect because it seems as if you'll never reach the bottom. The river that runs through the canyon has exposed Precambrian rock, which is just about the oldest rock on Earth,鈥� Ella said. 

Seeing the first instance of the interconnection of igneous and metamorphic mountains at Pike鈥檚 Peak and the large red sandstone structures of the Garden of the Gods created through the formation of the Rock Mountains was inspiring, as were the two days spent focusing on proglacial lakes at Rocky Mountain National Park, she said. Students hiked three proglacial lakes, each with a different view.

鈥淭he entire hike was in the snow. Dream Lake was my favorite spot during this entire trip. The water was breathtaking, and there was the perfect outlook of a glacial moraine, which is basically the path a glacier takes to descend a mountain,鈥� Ella said.

On the trip, Ella also experienced wildlife in nature, spotting numerous elk, some moose, and a chipmunk that climbed onto her arm.

鈥淎 textbook can only provide so much information as to what you might see, but the 鈥榯ypical鈥� explanation is sometimes the furthest from reality. This trip provided me with the opportunity to actually apply the information I've been learning and better understand the significance of this information,鈥� Ella said.

Dr. Shadow Robinson, 黑料不打烊 provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs, said the university is intentional about making sure every student has access to hands-on learning.

鈥淥ur faculty and staff are committed to fostering an environment that promotes learning and discovery. We want all students here to have a chance to take what they learn in the lecture halls and laboratories into their communities,鈥� Robinson said.

That might mean geoscience majors trek through the Rocky Mountains or education majors step into a local junior high to spark curiosity in future mathematicians. The goal, Robinson said, is to give every student an experience that connects their studies to the world in which they will live and lead after they graduate.

Ella believed her trip to Colorado did just that.

鈥淢y classmates and I have discussed, studied, and been tested on all these land structures in class over the last year and a half. I could regurgitate information on the typical deposition for each of these environments, like what types of rocks you might find, what structures you'd see within the rocks, or even what type of grain sizes you might see if you were to take a core out of this location. Yet nothing quite explains a mountain range like the range itself,鈥� Ella said.

Ella, a student worker at 黑料不打烊 Plant Operations, said majoring in environmental geoscience has helped her realize a passion for ecological safety. She is on track to graduate in spring 2027 and then hopes to continue her education by pursuing a master鈥檚 degree.