By Emma Watermolen
Madison East High School
In the summer of 2023, Madison East High School staff Mary Bridget Nowicki, Bethany Alwa and Emma Watermolen launched an environmental field education course for students to earn one semester of science credit. The course is now running for the third summer and finding success with all students who enroll.
Two students, Jillian Stebbins and Lamine Traore, have been essential in the course’s success. Both participated in the course the first summer it was offered and have returned each year to conduct independent research and mentor first-year students through their own work.
Jillian will graduate this June and is hoping to keep science in her future. “I definitely want to get involved in volunteering or working at a nature center,” she said. “I’m really interested in music, but if there’s a possibility I can double major in music and environmental science, I definitely will.”
Lamine will graduate in June 2026 and plans to study biology in college. Reflecting on his experience, he shared, “The summer course helped me get better at analyzing data because I collected it myself and could understand where the data came from and the context it was in.”
Students in the course spend two weeks measuring the health of local ecosystems by completing labs and research projects about tree identification, aquatic macroinvertebrates, water chemistry, compass and pacing measurements, soil composition, and biodiversity. They collect data and analyze their results in groups to better understand the natural world around them.
Beyond scientific exploration, the course encourages students to slow down and appreciate their surroundings. When Jillian was prompted to summarize the best experiences of this course, she said, “I saw so many animals. I saw a turkey, a cool moth, snakes and deer. It made me feel in touch with everything, and I felt really honored that I got to witness that nature around me.”
For this teacher, the biggest honor is getting to teach students like Jillian and Lamine and bear witness to their care of the world around them.
