This past week, I sat down with Emily Erard-Stone ‘20 and Christopher Sargent ‘20 to talk about the newly formed Geology Club. The club was originally started by The Bates Geology Department and was then accepted as an official Bates club in January. “We wanted to be an official club in order to get more funding and make it possible for us to go more places and host more trips to get Bates students involved in the earth sciences” said Erard-Stone.

The club has yet to host any official trips but is currently in the process of planning a trip to Short Ridge this April which would start with chai and cookies before teaching students about the geology of the Maine coast. “We will start with short presentation of the geology of the coast in addition to the species and plant life, to present that to people who don’t typically do sciences or those who just don’t know that much about geology. After that we will go out into the field and show them the things that we talked about in the presentation” said Erard-Stone. “We are really looking forward to showing Bates students the fun of geology,” said Sargent. 

“It is really hard to get geology trips in the winter time, because [the club] is all outdoor focused. A lot of the different aspects of geology are covered up with snow this time of year, so we are looking forward to the trip in the spring” said Sargent.

In addition to the trip to Short Ridge in April, I asked the club leaders what they hoped for the future of the Geology club and it’s involvement with the Bates community. “I think the Geology club could be really big going forward because the Bates academic council just removed the L requirement for a lot of the humanities majors. We are hoping the club can help people at Bates get outside and have a general understanding of the outdoors” said Erard-Stone, “I became a geology major after taking just one class that got me outside and having fun. I have been interested in geology ever since.” In addition to creating events for Bates students, the club also plans to go to local schools and teach students about the outdoors and outdoor education.

Being that this is a newly created club, Sargent and Erard-Stone hope that involvement from the Bates student body will come from word of mouth. “Once we get going and people start going on our trips and seeing how fun they are, word will spread and take off from there. Geology is a fun subject and I think the trips will speak for themselves” said Sargent.

Club members will have the opportunity to understand geology and other important, related concepts. “The science part of geology is what you get in the class, but it is important to get people who aren’t interested in the science aspect of things involved and to know the importance of geology. We hope to create better communication between the science of geology and the politics of geology. I think when there is better communication and understanding of that, the politics have a better backing” said Erard-Stone.

“[The Geology Club] is big on focusing on the fun of geology, so everything fun that geology brings we hope to show that to the Bates community!” said Sargent. Be sure to check out the Bates Geology club today and be sure to keep an eye out for their April Trip offering!