ESU Students Spend Spring Break at Chincoteague Bay Field Station

Posted by: admin on March 13, 2015, No Comments

While some students choose to spend their spring break frolicking on beaches and getting some rest, 23 students at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania opted for dirt roads at Chincoteague Bay Field Station in Wallops Island, Va., a residential field and research facility located on Virginia’s eastern shore.

As a member university of the field station, ESU works closely with the research facility to provide educational and research opportunities to students.

Choosing to go an alternative spring break trip, students engaged in various service projects which included minor construction work, building oyster enclosures, painting and cleaning residences, and trimming back the phragmites, an invasive plant species that decimates the surrounding aquamarine life.

“I learned so many things — I never thought I’d be interested in marine biology and ecology but it become more than just another class when I saw it come to life,” Nazreen Joemmanbaks, a junior majoring in biology from East Stroudsburg, Pa., said.

The weekend trip was merely a kickoff to their spring break. They arrived at the field station on March 6 and headed back home on March 9. Over two days, students put in 14 hours of service work.

“This kind of opportunity really gives students hands-on experience and educates them on Mid-Atlantic ecosystems and aquamarine life,” Chris Bello, assistant director of Student Activities, said.

Students from the Campus Activities Board, sorority Mu Sigma Upsilon and the marine science and biology clubs joined together to participate in this imitative.

Aside from their service work, students attended a panel discussion, Headwaters to Oceans: Water Resources and the Eastern Shore, where three local experts discussed the aquaculture of the Chincoteague Bay area and the surrounding region.

“It really was an amazing experience,” Ginamarie Canepa, a junior majoring in communication studies from Dingmans Ferry, Pa., said. “I really liked working with other ESU students to make a meaningful difference.”