Spring break trips to Woods Hole and Gettysburg

From the Marine Biological Laboratory on Cape Cod to the Civil War battlefields of the mid-Atlantic, groups of Exonians traveled to points along the East Coast for educational adventures.

March 27, 2019
Exeter students at Woods Hole

Immersing themselves in their fields of study, Exeter biology students analyzed marine organism in a state-of-the-art laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, while history students visited Civil War sites.  

Woods Hole

A group of 10 Exonians dropped anchor in what’s known as a marine biologist’s playground, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Led by Science Instructor Sydnee Goddard, the weeklong trip was fully funded by a donor. The biology-based program gave students the opportunity to conduct experiments focusing on embryo development in frogs and fruit flies, study color perception in nature and work on a DNA sequencing project. The group toured the labs at the University of Chicago-affiliated Marine Biological Laboratory before collecting organisms from nearby bodies of water. Students then took their samples to be photographed under high-powered microscopes for analysis. 

Gettysburg 

Conducting on-site research as part of History Instructor Kent McConnell’s class, A People’s War: Digital Humanities in the Study of America’s Civil War Era, Exeter students ventured to multiple American Civil War battlefields. Starting in Pennsylvania, Dr. Peter Carmichael of the Civil War Institute marched Exonians on a tour of the grounds of the Battle of Gettysburg. From there, the group made its way to Charlottesville, Virginia, meeting with Dr. Edward L. Ayers, who discussed his work in the field of digital humanities. Students continued their tour of the region by visiting more battlefields, including Antietam, before retreating to Washington, D.C. and a full day of research at the National Archives. 

See more photos from this trip on the group's Instagram.