Radio Script
1999

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Budding Marine Scientists
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STORY: Amanda Warner, Dustin Hansen and Jennifer Sopko want to study science in college. They're intrigued by the natural world. Ironically, their interest in marine science has lured them to Fairbanks, Alaska--hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. These high school students are part of an Upward Bound summer course at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The program strives to inspire students who are likely to be first-generation college graduates. Marine science teacher Ann Knowlton says Fairbanks' location means the students will get both fresh- and saltwater experience.

KNOWLTON: "It's kind of funny to be studying marine science here in Fairbanks, being landlocked and quite interior, so we're going to get around that little glitch by doing some limnology. It's aquatic sampling, but it's freshwater."

Knowlton says after some practice, the students will take a ten-day trip to the coast. She says the real-life field work is an important part of the class. The first trip is to Badger Slough, a half-hour drive from town. Habitat biologist Nancy Ihlenfeldt from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game gives a quick introduction to the slough and then the young scientists don their black rubber boots and plunge in. Four girls share their findings with Ihlenfeldt.

GIRLS: "If you look real close, you can see those--don't know what they are but they look like little worms. There's a lot of larvae. That's what it looks like? Wow."

The students make notes in little yellow notebooks, courtesy of Upward Bound. The federally funded program targets low-income students and provides for everything during the six-week course. Oregonian Jennifer Sopko tells others what her group found.

SOPKO: "We saw these, what was the name of them, arctic grayling, and they were about 3 to 4 weeks old, tons of them, little tiny ones, just flowing into the current. And that's about it. Lots of bugs and stuff."

Sopko and the others carefully label their jars. A few days later, they examine their findings in the lab. Dustin Hansen's microscope revealed a Fairy Shrimp.

HANSEN: "It had a pointy nose and it like had weird eyes. It looked like it had babies but the teacher said that it was just organs or something."

Hansen says his school in Washington State doesn't offer much hands-on science. He'd only used a microscope once before. Teacher Knowlton says the students are doing well. And she says the ocean field trip will help them hone their skills--and broaden their horizons.

KNOWLTON: "We'll be visiting a lot of facilities and pretty much talking with anybody and everybody we can who has a job or a life related to the sea, and figuring out what type of living one can make associated with the sea as well as just how the oceans impact our lives and how we impact the oceans."

Knowlton's a good role model. She's a UAF doctoral candidate in marine science. Upward Bound is designed not only to help prepare high schoolers for college, but to nurture their enthusiasm for science. Sixteen-year-old Amanda Warner got the message.

WARNER: "I'm starting college, actually next year, doing a running start. I will be attending a local college near where I live and I'm going to major in marine biology."

Upward Bound at UAF this summer also offered an earth and space science course and one on environmental science.

OUTRO: From the Alaska Sea Grant Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, this is Arctic Science Journeys. I'm Amy Mayer.