Transcript of Nature of Life Movie
I start with this question. Why do you want a university education? Why are you here?
Down from Minnesota, 2500 miles, the Mississippi River runs to the Gulf.
Students entering the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota participate in a unique orientation to college. Occurring during the summer before their freshman year, students travel to Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. There, students are introduced over a 4-day period to college, classes, professors, and fellow classmates. This distinct program, called Nature of Life, offers a roadmap to students beginning their college careers, set alongside a river that is just beginning a journey of its own.
DR. ROBERT ELDE, DEAN: The Mississippi River, which is one of the great defining features of North American geography, begins its journey to the Gulf of Mexico in that little modest lake.
AARON CHARLSON, STUDENT & NATURE OF LIFE PEER MENTOR: Coming up here lets the students see a part of the University of Minnesota that is dedicated to what they’re studying. It lets them get away from the Twin Cities and get out of everyday life; they’re living in cabins, they’re in something new.
SIVANI PASKARADEVAN, STUDENT & NATURE OF LIFE PEER MENTOR: It’s just nice to get out of the Cities and go somewhere where you’re not used to going, and you’re kind of isolated so you get to really focus in on the program, whereas if you’re at the University, there’s a million other things to do in your spare time.
DR. DAVID BIESBOER, DIRECTOR OF THE LAKE ITASCA BIOLOGICAL STATION: Well, we have a variety of activities, of course. Part of them are centered around classes – they have mini classes that are their first introduction to college level instruction. I think some of it is pretty rigorous; they’re probably a little bit surprised, they’re hearing vocabulary they’ve never heard before, they can see that the professors are very knowledgeable people and that they’re going to be challenged at the University of Minnesota in their classes.
CARRIE OLSON, STUDENT & NATURE OF LIFE PEER MENTOR: I came from a tiny town in northern Minnesota so I thought a huge college was going to be a problem. But coming to Nature of Life, I found out that everyone had the same feelings.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER, PROFESSOR: We solicit faculty involvement by nominating exceptional faculty that we know will work really well with the students, they’re good teachers, and that they will see again early in their college careers.
JEANINE PEBBLES, FIRST YEAR STUDENT: I treated Nature of Life as a first class. It was my first college class so I felt like I’d started already and it was a great transition from summer (the middle of summer) to school.
JONATHAN STRONG, FIRST YEAR STUDENT: While studying at Lake Itasca it was beautiful, the weather was great while we were there. We stayed in small cabins right on the lake and we had a chance to go swimming and go out on boats on the lake and be outside a lot and it was just a really great place to be for the couple days that we were there.
DR. ROBERT ELDE: One of the real features of the Nature of Life program—and indeed a feature which we are moving more and more toward in our entire curriculum—is to learn biology by doing it.
CARRIE OLSON: They get to attend three modules, which can be anything from going out to a bog to exploring a river to counting ferns. It’s very interesting.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: My module is Diversity of the Spineless and it’s a combination lab and field experience. So at first the students all put on these big, huge chest waders and we go out into the river, rain or shine. It’s kind of fun when we have bad weather as you can imagine, and while we’re out there we do kind of a standard kick sample. We’re looking at macroinvertebrate diversity in the headwaters of the Mississippi, so that’s exciting. A lot of these students are from Minnesota but they’ve never been to the headwaters of the Mississippi.
JEANINE PEBBLES: We got experiences that we could touch and feel, and see, as opposed to reading books and listening to lectures. We were outside and we actually got to see what we were studying.
DR. DAVID BIESBOER: You can see they make kind of a slimy sheet. You can see this entire spring is filled with these bacteria.
In my particular unit people are very excited about coming into a bog and seeing this place that they never imagine existed, and then, of course, trying to understand how it functions as a biological ecosystem.
SIVANI PASKARADEVAN: I hope the students take away that there are endless possibilities when you’re wanting to study science—that they can study ecology but at the same time do genetics.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: I’m really excited about biology. I’m really excited about what I teach. I teach evolution—that’s as good as it gets. I teach zoology—what could be more fun than talking about the diversity of animalia? So I hope that at Itasca that’s clear to the students.
DR. JOHN ANDERSON: One of the finest ways to really learn about biology is to do biology, and the way to do that is to get involved in a research project that’s stressed at Nature of Life.
CARRIE OLSON: I learned a lot of things when I was here; I especially got into research—that was a huge thing. I got really excited about doing research at the U.
NICHOLAS BEERMANN, FIRST YEAR STUDENT: You learn about cool things that you can research. You have to learn about how to research them. You learn about other peoples’ research projects and they sound so cool. Like where they go to do them, what they do to do them; it sort of makes you want to do research at the same time.
[Snippet of Carrie Olson speaking at a research presentation]
DR. ROBERT ELDE: We’re very keen to get our students into research situations as soon as possible. That’s clearly important. That’s the great thing about being an undergraduate at a great research university. You learn a lot in the classroom, as you will anywhere, but uniquely you learn how knowledge is challenged and how new knowledge is created.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: I think the Nature of Life experience is carried over into the classroom, most obviously in the comfort level that these students seem to have with the instructors.
SIVANI PASKARADEVAN: I got to interact with professors pretty well up here, I think. It’s just good relationships to have and you can always go back to them and talk to them.
JONATHAN STRONG: I thought that professors would be kind of hard to reach and hard to communicate with because they’re generally very busy with their own research and their teaching, but Nature of Life changed my expectations because the professors were very friendly and accessible.
DR. DAVID BIESBOER: Here’s how you apply it, though, are you ready? [laughter] Okay, put it behind your ears a little bit because it’s a cologne, come on!
JEANINE PEBBLES: They emphasized meeting with professors every night. They said it was the most important thing.
AARON CHARLSON: One-on-one interactions with professors, with the Dean, the Associate Dean, I mean I’m on first name basis with these people.
DR. ROBERT ELDE: I have office hours. Last week one freshman came in by herself and said, “Well, I know you wanted to talk, and so here I am. Let’s talk!” and we had just a great conversation.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: We start class, you know, the very first class of the semester, and I can go in and name names because of people I saw at Nature of Life. That’s powerful for the students who I’m naming, but it’s also powerful for other students because they say, “Oh my gosh! This professor knows people!”
CARRIE OLSON: I walked in and I was so nervous because it was my first class. And I walked in and I recognized three people from Nature of Life. So I instantly found them and asked them how they were and caught up a little bit. It just made the whole experience, like I can still feel it, how relieved I was that I actually knew someone.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: [lecture] Two monohybrid crosses. You can always do this. You can take your dihybrid and say it’s like two monohybrids, let’s just combine them.
AARON CHARLSON: It was nice to walk into a classroom and not feel like I didn’t know anyone, especially in a room filled with 250 people.
JONATHAN STRONG: I got to know a lot of the kids that would be in my dorm and around the college so I was excited to see everyone again when I first came here and glad that I knew so many people.
DR. SEHOYA COTNER: There is a greater sense of community because of Nature of Life. I think that CBS students are probably more likely to engage in activities out of the classroom because they know there’ll be other CBS students there. And they know that they’re part of something small.
CARRIE OLSON: It’s fun. It’s three days of just hanging out with nature and getting to know professors and going to meet people in your classes, which is a huge thing.
DR. JOHN ANDERSON: We have a lot of traditions, and I firmly believe that if people know about traditions and get connected to them, they’ll feel better about being a part of that community.
NICHOLAS BEERMANN: Dr. Anderson’s traditions were great. He came up there the first time and we didn’t know what to expect. He came up and he started singing.
[singing]
DR. ROBERT ELDE: Professor John Anderson is just legendary in his ability to—without batting an eyelash—become very solemn and serious about the traditions, particularly the musical traditions.
JEANINE PEBBLES: Professor Anderson could really belt out a note. He had a lot of school spirit and it inspired us as well to have some. He was probably the perfect candidate for that part.
DR. ROBERT ELDE: Nature of Life is one of the best things we do. It’s something where that engagement has so inspired the faculty, that we’re energized to go on and see how we can extend that.
DR. DAVID BIESBOER: What’s the job of a professor? Let’s switch gears here. What’s my job?
AARON CHARLSON: I’ve had a chance to read some of the essays that the students wrote reflecting on their time here. They really give me a sense of pride in what I did up here.
SIVANI PASKARADEVAN: When they move on in their careers and look back on CBS, I hope they say that, “Wow, this place did a lot for me.”
NICHOLAS BEERMANN: As much as I think I have myself figured out, knowing what I want to do and knowing who I am, I hope that college can sort of make me that person that I want to be; make me that person that I can go places with.
DR. ROBERT ELDE: Just as that river is beginning from Lake Itasca, our students are beginning their first independent journey. It’s a journey that will really help shape their life and shape their friends for the rest of their life, their aspirations, their ideas about their own capacity and what they aspire to do.
Down from Minnesota 2,500 miles, the Mississippi River runs to the Gulf. Carrying every drop of water that flows down two-thirds of the continent, carrying every brook and rill, rivulet and creek, carrying all the rivers that run down two-thirds the continent, the Mississippi runs to the Gulf of Mexico.
DR. DAVID BIESBOER: My job is to make you think, and to think deeply, and to argue positions and to think critically about all the issues that come your way—not accept what you’ve been told all your life.
