IMPACT

Lauren Baker 2025

You get to McCarthy with research ideas and questions for the summer. But McCarthy and the Kennicott Valley don't really care. The Wrangell mountains ask you more questions about yourself than you can ask them about your research. Although WMFS is a small community of characters, as is McCarthy, all my conversations expanded the world and gave me direction for what to do next. What questions do I have? What do I want to learn?  Do I want to be on glaciers or alpine meadows? What type of environmental scientist do I want to be? What type of person? My time at field studies answered a lot of questions. I left excited to jump into many more.

I had never been so creative with my academics. Or experienced the freedom to be so creative with my answers. Using art as a method of learning was completely new to me. Now I am back in the 'real world' I still break out my watercolours for class and my own enjoyment. Being with a small cohort of students the subconscious learning is huge. Both growth in knowledge and the ability to tackle new experiences and problems. These are the aspects of the program you only realize once you leave the mountains and the hardware store at the end of the summer.

 

Ollie Muz 2025

My experience with field studies is still integrating into my life in interesting ways. Every once in a while, I’ll think about McCarthy, and whoever is around me will be subjected to hearing all my stories about the people there and the remarkable town itself. While the backpacking was awe-inspiring, my experience within McCarthy is what most continues to affect me. Field studies is a part of the story of McCarthy. Many town residents we interacted with were alumni of the field studies program from decades ago.

McCarthy is a place where people go to live differently. This past summer, I was exposed to completely new models for how to live one’s life. Many of the people there have prioritized connection with land, plants, animals, and small community above all else. They have made an intentional choice to live in harsh, isolating conditions, and in that choice found a deep connection to the people and world around them. I was completely blown away by the stores of experiential knowledge, ranging from botany to survival skills, housed within the locals I met. The true understanding of the complex natural world around them, achieved by living actively and observantly in it. Being introduced to and instructed by people like this was very moving, and I’m sure it will continue to leave an impact on me.

Pink flowers in the foreground with a rocky landscape, mountains in the background, and a cloudy sky.
A campsite with several colored tents set up in a grassy clearing, with mountains in the background and a sky filled with clouds.
Group of people gathered around a campfire outdoors during dusk, with mountains and a lake in the background.

Nicholas Colomey 2025

Attending the Wrangell Mountains Field Studies program was one of the most valuable experiences I've had as an undergrad. The program gave me a very unique opportunity to conduct field science totally guided by myself. Having to come up with a project based around a testable hypothesis, figuring out what I need to do to make this project happen and ultimately completing it gave me far more of an understanding of how scientific research works than any other experience I have ever had. Additionally the ability to spend 20 days straight in the backcountry was an eye opening experience that gave me a lot of perspectives on what I do and don't need to feel happy and fulfilled that I don't think I could have ever gotten in any other program. I am currently writing my senior thesis on rock glacier morphology and planning on going to grad school for glaciology. I know that those two things would not be true if I had not attended this program.

 

Roxanne Shaviro 2024

I don’t think I have ever really stopped thinking about what I learned and experienced during Field Studies. Not only has the insanely complex and dynamic landscape of McCarthy and Wrangell-St. Elias found its way into my coursework and projects as a source of inspiration, but I also strongly cherish the strong relationships I made with the people and environment there. As an undergraduate who is thinking constantly about climate, art, and how people engage with them both, it was extremely important to have such a real opportunity for exploration in the Wrangells; the time spent on glaciers, in the alpine, at the WMC, and everywhere in between all became incredible and unique spaces for me to learn from and grow in. I was extremely lucky to receive a full scholarship, and without it I would not have been able to attend. I am so grateful for the support I was given, for I cannot imagine where I would be right now if my ways of engaging with the world were not incredibly invigorated by my time in Field Studies.

Several tents pitched on a mountain slope with snow patches and cloudy sky in the background.
Group of nine hikers standing outdoors in front of mountains with snow-capped peaks, wearing backpacks and outdoor clothing.
Outdoor wooden shed or workshop with cluttered shelves and various objects, including skull decorations, lanterns, and containers, surrounded by plants and flowers.

Annie Chian 2025

On my Field Studies Program, Mark Vail (a McCarthy resident) said something like this: “you can either move around chasing life or you can sit in one place and let life come to you.” Students in the Field Studies program get a taste of the latter. It is a gift to spend a summer in the backcountry and within the community of McCarthy, to learn from the changing seasons, the glaciers, and your own physical abilities. I left McCarthy able to name every flower I came across, inspired to create art and to write, and with a real understanding of an ecosystem worth protecting. Not to mention the delicious rhubarb goodies coming out of the WMC kitchen, bits of song from our late night guitar sessions, and long days spent soaking up sun in alpine meadows.

 

Eddie Nachamie 2025

Participating in the Wrangell Mountains Field Studies Program was an absolutely amazing experience. The breathtaking views of the Copper River Basin combined with the high level of instructor competency in navigating and understanding the alpine and glacial environments made it an unforgettable summer. Sleeping out under the stars every night in the Alaskan bush is something that will stay with me for a long time. The people you will meet will change your perspective on ecology, living closer to the land, and transform your research skills.

 

Claire Sturm 2025

The impacts of the Field Studies program extend far beyond observable academic knowledge; for me, I gained a new way of knowing. The Wrangells, and the peers I experienced it with, sparked unique types of exploration into the nuanced interconnectedness of our natural and personal worlds. This expansion in my understanding and engagement with our environment has intrinsically shaped my future research and formed a deep, lasting connection to the Alaskan wilderness areas.

A group of hikers walking along a trail in a mountainous area with a glacier in the background.
Hand-drawn map of McCarthy Creek Valley with mountains, creeks, passes, peaks, glaciers, hummocks, polygons, and excavation steps marked. Includes key for symbols and numbered locations.
Group of people sitting under a tarp beside a lake on a cloudy, rainy day, wearing rain gear and smiling.

Sienna Lightman 2025

The Wrangell Mountain Field Studies program not only supplied me with tremendous academic knowledge on periglacial and glacial environments, ecosystems, and history through the work of dedicated professors, researchers, staff members, and community members, but also taught me so much more. Through the program’s interdisciplinary nature, I learned about the land not just through science but also through whose land we stepped on, and the importance of taking each step with purpose. I learned how to work as a team, adapt, and use the materials around me to conduct valuable research. I also had the opportunity to connect and learn with the tight-knit community of McCarthy more than I have in the town I have lived in my entire life. WMFS has truly changed my life, giving me a much greater consciousness and respect for the land everywhere I go, as well as the tools and invaluable support to do anything I set my mind to.

 

Jacob Temes 2024

I am grateful to Wrangell Mountains Field Studies not only for the fantastic memories, scenery and lifelong friendships but for the unique academic opportunities that it provides. It is an immersive opportunity to think critically and actively about earth systems from experts while surrounded by the very changes that are studied. The curriculum is not only passionate lectures but a combination of academic exchange and experiential learning that creates a unique environment. It changed the way I think about the world across disciplines and challenged every part of my understanding. It remains a core part of me even years after.

 

Ruby Jewett 2024

I learned so much and had so much fun in the WMFS program, exploring the backcountry, learning about and interacting with the town of McCarthy, getting to know my fellow field studies students, and working on our group projects. The program’s emphasis on place-based learning was invaluable to me, always encouraging us to think and ask questions about how aspects of the landscape interact with each other. I am incredibly grateful to have gotten the opportunity to learn about ecology, geology, and more in such a unique and hands-on environment, and I had a wonderful time in the program.

People sitting and lying cross-legged on a wooden floor in a log cabin, engaged in writing or drawing, with notebooks and water bottles around them, near a window with curtains.
Pink flowering plant growing among rocks and dry soil, surrounded by small green and white plants.
Man in salmon sweater giving presentation, map on screen showing land and water, legend with land types, community markers, trails, roads, and study areas.