It's Sunday morning on Waties Island.
We're doing a whole lot out here. Waties
Island is essentially an outdoor
laboratory, partially owned by Coastal
Carolina University. On this day students
collected Fiddler crabs in the marsh.
I know a lot of colleges don't have this
and so knowing that we have this island
just for ourselves is really amazing. And
hunted and chased down Ghost crabs on the
beach. You have to be very patient with them, but also very quick. These students are involved in an
undergraduate research class led by Eric
Rosch. Today we have freshmen that,
they've been in school, just a couple of
weeks and they're already out here
helping out and doing their own research.
You don't find that anywhere else.
Meredith Lalumia is one of those first
semester freshmen. I'm kind of still in shock
about it all. She's studying
territoriality and burrow sizes in
Ghost crabs. The fact that I can just put
my plans and my kind of dreams into
action is a really cool feeling.
Sophomore Madeline Rothwell has
developed a research project related to
micro-plastics. It is amazing. It was
actually one of the main reasons why I
chose this University.
These students understand the rare
nature of this. Usually undergrads, you
don't get too many opportunities to do
what we are doing that, right now.
CCU's Marine Science program does
stand out. I did look at other schools
that did have a marine science program
and really they didn't compare. Notice
how big that claw is. Numerous
opportunities to participate in field
work as part of the educational process
is a key factor in that. Out here it's so
immersive and you really start to make
those connections between what you read
about and hear about and talk about in a
classroom and how it actually plays out
in the world.
Students are positioned to succeed.
I made the best decision to come here.
