Welcome Morehead City Field Site students. We just finished the first week and so far so good. Sunday Aug. 9 was move in day to NC State’s Coastal Quarters and we kicked the semester off with take out from Dank Burrito, eating socially distanced in the apartment parking lot. Monday was orientation, Covid testing (my negative result was returned in 7 days??), introductions, and a tour of IMS. First day of classes was on Tuesday. Wednesday was a long Capstone Project day, taught by Dr. Nathan Hall and me. We started off by touring the study site, the North River Wetlands Preserve, with the NC Coastal Federation. The photo above is the class on a constructed hill. It was a 7-hour day. During the final 30 minutes, when we were organizing into research sub groups, Nathan and I had to turn organization over to Molly Bost, the graduate student consultant, because our brains were fried. Thursday was more class and a seminar by Dr. Richard Batiuk, US EPA. Friday, the class worked on their independent research projects. Today (Saturday), the Field Site students all had a picnic lunch and visited the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum with their Residence Advisor Jeff Plumlee. Tomorrow afternoon is a group BBQ with Jeff as head chef. We will likely pick up the pace over the next couple of weeks.
