Despite strong winds and freezing temperatures the first McCookout of the season was a full success. Cameron, Justin and Dan lit the coals and provided lots of food that was eagerly awaited in the geology lab. About twenty majors and new students met over lunchtime to chat, eat, discuss classes and declare their majors. With Spring finally in the (extended) forecast we hope to make McCookout a weekly event for the rest of the semester.

The real reason why dan volunteered to do the barbecue

And the prize for best hair goes to …

No food in the lab!

Yes, our students this semester are so smart that Sarah Black and Jon had nothing better to do than take lots of “incredible” ENVS themed pictures and post them on Instagram.  Follow us at trinityenvs and we will follow all of you.  We want to see you in action…..cool people doing cool stuff!

This Friday Trinity’s Environmental Science Program hosted the 5^th annual meeting of the Geological Society of Connecticut. The well-attended meeting began with a field trip to some nearby rock outcrops led by Jon Gourley and Randy Steinen, and continued with a reception in the Academic Club.
Dinner was served buffet style in Hamlin Hall and was a great success. Our guests were amazed by our old dining Hall and repeatedly inquired about the next Quidditch match. Jon and I assured them that we usually fly to class on our broomsticks. :-)

The big surprise of the meeting came early on. Some of you may know that, long, long, long ago Trinity used to have a Geology Department, housed in Boardman Hall (formerly located between Mather Hall and Austin Arts). Before moving across the country to San Diego, Richard W. Berry, taught Geology at Trinity. Dick shared a few stories from the past, recalled Trinity’s first X-ray diffractometer and marveled about our spaces in McCook. Now retired, he moved back to Connecticut  and I hope we’ll see more of him on campus in the future.
After a rather brief business meeting we all moved to McCook Auditorium, where we enjoyed a lecture by Dr. Greg Walsh from the USGS on the rather complicated metamorphic rocks of western Connecticut.
Thanks to the outstanding work of our Calendar Office (Thanks Christine for putting up with me!) and Chartwell’s the meeting was  a big success. It was also a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to the society’s spring field trip and next year’s meeting.

We got the two boards a few weeks ago, but yesterday Christoph finally got around to installing the little brass plaques on our new honors board.
Just in time for homecoming, the board lists all of our presidential fellows (going back to 2003) as well as the recipients of the senior prize and the activism prize. The board has been hand-made for us by the guys at City Bench. Given the size of the board and the tiny brass plaques it will last us probably for the next 50 years. City Bench used reclaimed wood from a silver maple that stood just north of McCook Hall and had to be cut down last year. Wood from the same tree was used in the bench that sits between Jon and Christoph’s  offices and the new ENVS bulletin board.
The bulletin board hangs between our two offices, while the honors board is located at the end of the hallway, so nobody can miss it during their visit to the dungeon of McCook.