Classes nearly done

Two more days. On the one hand, a break will be welcome, on the other, I will miss this crew of students. Summer students are kind of a breed apart and I enjoy having them - I find the summer crew is more likely to have a critical mass of the funny-geeky students who actually laugh at my jokes (partly because they get them) or who get caught up in the stories I tell in class.

A couple of things:

1. I may have gained a new advisee because the student said they liked how I taught and also their regular advisor is going on sabbatical.

2. Pre-meds. Heh. I had someone in my ecology class get mildly freaked out over a praying mantis in the field. That said, I think I convinced a few people that being a "mudballer*" isn't so terrible. Don't think I won any converts, but at least I might have broadened a few perspectives.

(*There are two factions, some would have you believe, in biology: the "mudballers" and the "tubesuckers." The tubesuckers, you can probably guess, are the lab biologists. The mudballers are people like me - field biologists. The names are mildly derisive but when I've heard them used it's been mostly in a gently busting-your-chops sort of way. And anyway, I totally own up to being a mudballer, seeing as a lot of my research involves soil and I don't mind getting dirty or making a mess in lab. I'm not sure where the mathematical modellers fit in with all of this; they're even more isolated from the messy stuff than the tubesuckers are....)

3. One of my pre-meds asked me, one day in a field lab, "But what are grasshoppers FOR?" I kind of boggled at her for a moment - that's an awfully broad question and could be answered many different ways (I presume she didn't mean it so much in a philosophical/epistemological sense). I finally said, "They eat grass, and also are food for some other organisms" which seemed to be the desired answer.

It makes me laugh a little because I don't think I've ever asked, at least as an adult, "But what is (that species) FOR?" I just kind of accept that everything has a role and is here for a reason....

4. One day in the intro class lab - my TA was one of my ecology students - a couple of the students were talking about how they were going on to other schools in the fall (because we have neither an engineering school nor a forensic science department*) and the TA commented, "Well, if you ever have any questions about stuff, just call [fillyjonk] here, because she's real smart."

And while I didn't do what I might have done in years past and protested in false modesty that I wasn't all THAT smart, I did say "I'm smart but I also have a lot of gaps in my knowledge about stuff." and he responded, "No, she's real smart." So maybe all my goofy stories about random stuff do have a good effect.

And you know? If one of them e-mailed me a question about something I was knowledgeable about (or knew where I could point them to get knowledge), I'd totally e-mail them back. This was a fun group of students and I am a little sad that some of them aren't staying on here.

(Also: yes, I may be "real smart" but I have a couple other secrets up my sleeve: I have a freakishly good memory and I also am very, very good at finding information fast online. And GOOD information too, not the weird listicle might-be-true, might-be-junk kind of information that passes for so many websites these days)

(*I am now imagining just how awesome it would be if we DID have an engineering school. I think we could attract a lot of students because the next nearest school with one is pretty distant. Of course, that would take money and legislative will for that to happen.

I think I've said before that if I were starting all over again from 16 or so, I'd work harder in Calculus and learn it better and try for Materials Science Engineering or something because I think it would be kind of fun to have a career where you get to try to break things for a living.)