Mount Rainier: The Place and its People

REVISED

Fall 2012 quarter

Faculty

Jeff Antonelis-Lapp environmental education , Lucia Harrison public administration, visual arts

Fields of Study

environmental studies, natural history, outdoor leadership and education, visual arts and writing

Preparatory for studies or careers in

environmental education and related fields.

Prerequisites

All students must agree to and complete the "Agreement for the Mount Rainier Program," which is part of the program covenant and can be obtained from Lab1support@evergreen.edu. Because we wish to preserve our long-term relationships with Mount Rainier National Park and the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the agreement asks faculty and students to refrain from alcohol and recreational drug use on all program activities. The agreement must be completed and submitted to faculty by the first day of class.

Description

Mount Rainier, known locally as "the Mountain" or "Tahoma", dominates the landscape of the Puget Sound region and commands the attention, imagination and respect of its inhabitants. The relationship of people to the Mountain has varied widely: prized by Indigenous Peoples for a variety of activities; seen by European-American settlers as a potentially vast resource for timber and minerals; and visited as a wilderness and recreation destination for Puget Sound inhabitants and tourists from the world over.

This 1-quarter program begins with a 3-day on-campus intensive that will provide instruction on keeping an illustrated field journal and thoroughly prepare students for a 9-day field trip to Mount Rainier National Park which immediately follows the orientation.  Students must be prepared for primitive campground conditions, sleeping in tents and preparing meals outdoors without electricity.  Students must also be fit for strenuous hikes and outdoor service learning work. Field trip activities will include studying the parks's natural history, hikes with and presentations by park service staff and conservation service learning.

Once back on campus, we will place Mount Rainier in its historical context by studying the history of the National Park Service and Tahoma's precontact history that reaches back 8,000 years.  Each student will select a species of interest to create a thematic series of expressive drawings, conduct a scientific literature review, and write a creative nonfiction essay.  Drawing workshops will provide strategies for developing ideas visually and writing workshops will support all phases of the writing process.

We will conclude the quarter with a week 10 4-day field trip returning to Mount Rainier (this time staying in cabins) during which students will share their species of interest portfolios.

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Hybrid Online Learning < 25% Delivered Online

Books

Greener Store

Required Fees

$400 for field trips to Mount Rainier National Park in fall.

May be offered again in

2014-2015

Offered During

Day

Program Revisions