Yesterday I visited the Wheaton College Field Station (formerly the Wheaton College Science Station; they’re introducing a broader range of environmental classes that include the humanities) near Rapid City, South Dakota.

I first heard about this place from my friend Joel, who studied there as an undergraduate. We met in grad school in Pennsylvania, and he spoke highly of the immersive educational experience he had. Far from the distractions of campus life, he could step outside his cabin and onto hiking trails, or walk down to Rapid Creek, or go to the small labs and library on the field station campus.

So for a quarter of a century since Joel and I met, I’ve been wanting to check this place out. I often teach in the Black Hills, but usually when I do the trunk of my car is my portable lab and library (as it is right now, with a milk crate full of field guides and an assortment of tools for teaching ecology at our church camp.) I have often urged my own institution to let me found a field station for our own school, but budgets are always tight, etc. More recently I’ve considered buying or making a long-term lease on some other property out here to start my own lab and school that could operate as an extension of the teaching I do on campus. I’m not sure that will ever happen, but a guy likes to dream.

In the attached photo you will see some of the reasons this week became the occasion for my visit. First, @dswanson. We met through this platform, and he reached out to me as he was traveling to the Wheaton campus as part of his sabbatical. I’m so glad he did! We met in Sioux Falls for a meal, and yesterday we met for several more. He also brought along Ben Lowe, the Executive Director of A Rocha USA whom I’ve also known only digitally. I love it when online platforms make IRL connections happen. The other two folks in the photo are the Director and Assistant Director of the Field Station. The Assistant Director is formerly the Director, who has recently taken a back seat to help onboard the new Director. And he knows my friend Joel!

Yesterday was a day of fun conversation about faith and creation care, about our hopes for our planet and all who share it with us. And it was a good day for sharing a few meals with new friends. And for dreaming of the good things we might be able to foster in our lifetimes, Deo volente.

Five men are standing close together in a room with wood-paneled walls, smiling at the camera. Behind them is a geological map of the Paha Sapa or Black Hills, South Dakota.