Trading my bowtie for some hip-waders and some hands-on, skill-building, engaged learning with some of Augie's best

Earlier this summer I was invited by Augustana College faculty members, Drs. Kevin Geedey, Michael Reisner and Kimberly Murphy, to shadow their summer interns on a day when they would be combining field work and time in the lab.

They were aware of my series of classroom visits in 2019 in which I'd written about the kinds of hands-on learning that happens here and wanted to make sure I knew what was happening this summer in their world.

I gladly accepted the invitation and looked forward to the experience all summer.

A week ago today, I came into the office and traded my bowtie for hip-waders and witnessed some of Augustana's finest students and faculty solving real-world problems through skill-building, engaged learning that is impacting our surrounding community in important ways.

In every possible way my time with these students and faculty reinforced how impactful an Augustana education can be.

I participated in two specific parts of the experience and had a sit-down to hear about some research two students are doing this summer.

Let's start with the experiences, though.

I accompanied Dr. Murphy and three students to Davenport, Iowa to collect water to be tested in the lab back on campus, which I also participated in. All of the interns are responsible for water testing, no matter their primary research interest. I found this to be of interest and understand what's behind it, too. There is some tedium to contaminant and molecular testing of water samples from several different sites and? I am sure that this part of doing science is important to learn.

My group of students were expert in every way. They tackled their work in the stream in a neighborhood in northwest Davenport with professionalism, patience and poise. They also had a lot of fun and were patient with me and they described step-by-step what they were doing and why. We had quite a bit of time to visit as they were testing the flow of water in a particular place.

The water quality testing is being done for the City of Davenport and our interns are funded by the city to do this important work for the 100,000+ residents of Davenport, IA.

When we got back to the lab, I interrogated students at each of the four testing stations about what they were doing and why.? I was very impressed with the knowledge, care and understanding of what they were being asked to do.

The hands-on learning was impressive.

I also had the chance to speak to two students doing research in other areas this summer.

One student has been researching maternal health in the Scott and Rock Island Counties. She has discovered that the rates of gestational diabetes are higher in these counties than almost anywhere else in the U.S. She will be sharing her findings with public health officials in the area and already has some great suggestions about how our community might take action to address this problem impacting our neighbors.

The other student I met with is working with a team to document wildlife patterns in some nearby areas. A team of Augustana students placed 20 cameras in forested areas that are documenting wildlife in the area.? The technology that is being used is very sophisticated and the State of Illinois is very interested in our students' findings.

It was an amazing half-day experience for me and reinforced a few things that are worth acknowledging:

1. The kind of hands-on, skills-building learning that is happening here is truly transformative.

2. Real, serious science can be done at a place like Augustana is not only happening at R1's.

3. The sophisticated lab equipment that our students are using for contaminant and molecular testing is available because of philanthropic support that has enabled Augustana to make some nice investments in recent years.

4. The students I shadowed and interviewed genuinely want to impact the community and place in which they find themselves. The science they are doing is purpose-driven, practical and intended to serve their client.?

As I reflected on the half-day and thought about how Augustana College and our terrific faculty are preparing our students for the future, I couldn’t help but think about AAC&U’s report about the career-ready graduate and how the experiences these students are having line up with what employers want in in career- and success-ready college graduate.?

The 70% of employers who want graduates who “completed an internship or apprenticeship” will love these Augie grads.?

The 57% of employers who want graduates who have “engaged with a community organization or on a community-based project” will love these Augie grads.?

The 56% of employers who want graduates who “undertook a research project in collaboration with a faculty member” will love these Augie grads.?

And, the 66% of hiring managers who want effective workers “gained knowledge from addressing real-life problems, regardless of discipline” will want these Augie grads.?