New perspective on a familiar adventure

EGGS 330 was not Sean Leshko’s first field course nor was it his first time in Southern California. In fact, the senior geology major lived in Death Valley, Calif., for a number of years before moving back to his home state of Pennsylvania to finish his degree at Bloomsburg University.

“I started college right out of high school and changed majors multiple times before realizing it wasn’t for me,” said Leshko, who is also majoring in philosophy and pursuing minors in geography and legal studies. “I took a 10-year hiatus before continuing my education.”

According to Leshko, he wanted to study environmental science and said that his solid background in math and science solidified his decision to choose the BU’s professional geology track.

“After I worked for the National Park Service, I knew I wanted to be out in the field working and studying the world around me,” he said.

EGGS 330 proved to bee an interesting course for Leshko in more ways than one.

“The camping experience has been unique,” Leshko said. “Being a resident of Southern California for so long, I would say the weather we experienced was beyond odd.”

The weather was truly not indicative of the typical Southern California climate. Over the first five days of the trip, it rained at least once a day and temperatures dipped to nearly freezing overnight at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

Although this wasn’t his first field course — a prior experience in Hawaii to study basalt — Leshko said EGGS 330 gave him a new perspective on field study.

“It’s neat to work with people in the environmental geoscience track, because they know more about biology than I do,” Leshko said. “It was neat to hear about pioneer plants or rock dating techniques in ways I might not have thought of right away.”