On September 11th, 2021, Colby hosted an Allen Island trip welcoming the newest CAPS members to Colby. For those who don’t know, CAPS is the Colby Achievement Program in Science, a program which aids and supports students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, and provides them with hands on research experiances and early exposure to Colby faculty. As covid prevented the CAPS students from going out last year, everyone involved was especially eager to go out to Allen Island.
The summer before arriving on campus for the first time, the CAPS students all participated in a summer virtual camp. While on the island, not only were they able to connect with eachother in person, but they were able to apply what they learned in the virtual camp in a real world application. They got to do things like assemble fold scopes (the same that are used in the virtual summer camp with Bigelow Scientists), take water samples form the ocean and fresh water ponds, and explore and learn about microscopic lifeforms, spiders, plant species, landscapes and soundscapes. With such easy access to all the necessary biomes to learn these topics, Allen Island has proved once again to be a stellar resource for Colby to utilize to educate their students.