Elkhart Memorial High School students traveled to Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor, Maine, to learn about marine biology. Students, from left, Lilly Spray, Morgan Dyner and Riley Smolinski were able to experience paddleboarding and more on the two-week trip. Photo provided by Elkhart Memorial High School
ELKHART—Elkhart School's Summer Field Experiences create an opportunity for students to experience life and learning in a place beyond the four walls of a classroom. Since 2001, these summer field experiences have included a two-week trip to Maine for the school’s annual Marine Biology trip.
The trip was spawned by an idea from biology teacher Heidi Krusenklaus, who was completing a course at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. To complete the class, students needed to design a lesson plan—but Krusenklaus had other ideas.
“I decided to create a course instead,” Krusenklaus said, which became Elkhart School's annual Marine Biology trip to Bar Harbor.
KrusenKlaus said her reasons for creating the course were twofold—one, because she loves whales; and two, because she wanted students to experience learning in an environment away from the Midwest.
“I wanted a way to get students out of Indiana, a landlocked state, and I said how we can get them to experience something completely different,” she said.
Elkhart Community Schools Director of Communications Brenda Kolbe said this type of learning experience reflects the school district’s overall mission to educate students in a hands-on manner.
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