Metes with Rivers, Lakes, and Wetlands classmates at Mud Lake Bog, summer 2006.

Jen Metes’ experience as a student at the Biological Station helped her develop both practical knowledge and soft skills that continue to inform her career.

“The classes are unique because you are getting experience in the actual tools of field science and those are the things you can put on a resume,” says Metes. “Those are skills that are used by scientists throughout their whole careers.”

In addition to learning practical field methods like how to conduct a stream survey, Metes reinforced her leadership ability and grit by executing a student research project. Those skills factored prominently in her ability to bag a fellowship at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor.

Fish survey in the Maple River, summer 2006.

From there, Metes went on to spend a summer aboard a research vessel studying fish biology and the Great Lakes. She credits Dr. Amy Schrank’s Rivers, Lakes, and Wetlands class with sparking this interest.

“It was an amazing opportunity that came directly from the Bio Station. I wouldn’t have known I was interested in that if I hadn’t gone and played up at Douglas Lake all summer and gotten really excited about field work,” she says.

Metes also appreciates the functionality of her Biological Station experience outside the world of academia.

“The real world isn’t about doing well on a test but how well you can apply the practical skills you learned and how well you can problem solve in the future and use creativity to create your own study.”

She gave those lessons new life when she taught students of her own. Her work creating field-based, multi-day environmental education experiences for middle and high schoolers in national parks like Yosemite allowed her to promote learning in nature rather than a classroom.

Working with young people also gave Metes the chance to “pass on values of environmental stewardship and hands on science” in hopes that her students would carry these values into their chosen careers. In this way, Metes shows how a field-based education at UMBS can have ripple effects throughout the communities in which alumni share their knowledge.

Metes' Ethnobotany class, spring 2007.

Metes recently completed her Master’s degree at University of California, Davis and currently works as a Research Associate for a public policy consulting firm where she tackles various environmental issues related to habitat conservation, fish passage improvements, and flood management in California’s Central Valley.