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SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2016
OBSERVING / Professors Kimo Morris and Daniela Bruckman rest with their Desert Biology students at the base of Mastadon Peak following a hike exploring the valley below.
DESERT COMES TO LIFE FOR STUDENTS
Field classes for the biology department mean educational and community enrichment
A
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOSE SERVIN
s Professor Kimo Morris shines a black light on
a scorpion he’s captured in the middle of the
night, he describes to a group of absorbed students why it produces an unnatural neon glow.
This nighttime hike is part of Morris’ Desert Biology
class in Joshua Tree National Park, a weekend camping
trip of hands-on learning and exploring. It is the fourth
trip that’s taken place since the biology department
brought back its field classes in the 2014 fall semester
at Santa Ana College.
“Classes like these are important not only because
they fulfill transfer requirements, but also because they
provide community enrichment,” Morris said.
From the coast, they rose through the chaparral into
the Mojave where it meets the Colorado Desert — like
the Coahuila Indians did thousands of years before.
The caravan of students drove into the desert over the
asphalt that now covers long-forgotten footprints. The
Coahuila trekked here for blue berries.
Later, prospectors traveled here to mine for gold.
Morris’ students went to learn.
As they arrived, the desert heat intensified.
But like the native plant life, Morris’ students quickly
adapted. Armed with their journals and water to combat the blast of the desert sun, these students marched
into the Mojave to experience the desert landscapes
they had only read about in textbooks.
“These classes are stress-relievers from my busy semesters. They’re fun, I learn so much, and I build great
relationships with students and faculty,” said marine
biology major Deborah Leopo.
She’s been on three field classes and has been accepted to the University of California in Santa Cruz.
Field classes have been a part of Santa Ana College’s
history ever since now-retired professor Richard Bates
began taking students into nature, Biology Department
Chair Jorge Lopez said.
“Back then, they would offer two classes per semester,
and some were two-week long trips,” Lopez said.
Lopez fell in love with biology when he traveled with
Bates as a student at Santa Ana College in 1989.
“When I took these classes, I was sold. I knew I wanted to become a biologist, which is why I think they’re
extremely valuable,” Lopez said.
After Bates retired, the classes were discontinued.
When Lopez was hired as a biology professor at SAC,
he brought the program back.
In the 2014 fall semester, Lopez, armed with an
anthology of field notes compiled by Bates and others
in the biology department, took students to Big Sur to
study the ecology of the California coast.
Since then, professors of the biology department
has been able to take students on one field class each
semester.
“It is imperative that colleges support these courses. Call me a traditionalist, but I feel that enrichment
courses like these are important to offer to the community,” Morris said.