The water along the shore of Marquette Park’s swath of Lake Michigan and its lagoon hasn’t been perfect in six years, but it lifts Indiana University Northwest Summer Bridge students into college life prepared for the experience.
Four different IUN student groups — one from STEM, one from the Humanities, one from Health Care and one from Business — converged on parts of the Indiana Dunes National Park to take part in collaborative learning with incoming students the week before classes start. Some of them, like the incoming STEM students, took water samples in the lake and lagoon to see how healthy the water is, while Humanities students took a hike through the Tolleston Dunes and, using sensory perception, worked on writing, Associate Dean and Geology professor Kris Huysken said.
Whatever project they were working on, it followed the school’s theme for 2024-2025 — Sustaining the Beauty, Health, and Prosperity of Northwest Indiana: People and their Environment.
“It’s a student showcase whose goal is to prepare incoming students for navigating college courses,” Huysken said. “They learn, in our example, what do scientists do?”
More than that, though, Bridges gives the students a head start on relationship building, too, added Jen Fisher, a Biology Professor with the school.
“You start to get this sense of belonging, because you’re meeting students, mentors and faculty. Now, you know people when you get to class,” Fisher said. “We may not be winning the Nobel Prize, here, but when the students start working together, everyone finds their place and realizes they can stay in school and overcome whatever doubts they may have.”
The STEM students were testing the water for nitrogen, which is good, and E. coli, which is not so much. Over the last six years of the test, the water samples have each been different, but they’re always within the “safe” range of use, Huysken said.
“They fluctuate, but the larger trend is that they’re always safe,” she said. “Marquette Park is an important place to measure because so many people are using it.”
Julia Wheeler, 20 and from Calumet Township, took the Bridges week last year as a new student in Geology. This year, she came back as a mentor.
“I really enjoyed it last year and still talk to people I met then,” Wheeler said. “We learned about the testing, but it also taught us how to make presentations and how college works in general.”
Kate Zientarski, of Michigan City, is in her second year as a STEM Bridges mentor. She likes it because she has a way of getting students to connect.
“I love science, and I love people, so I love helping people love science,” the Biology major said. “This is my last year, and summers are typically busy for me, but around this time I start getting antsy and need to get back to school. This is a good introduction.”
The students from each group will present their findings to each other at the end of the week, Huysken said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
