Hawaii Under My Boots

Peace and turbulence, creation and destruction, beauty and savagery, crashing waves and molten rock, volcanic wastelands and pioneer communities, tropical rainforests and desolate deserts — the spiritual and physical life of this land reverberates through my soul. Words and pictures do no justice to the majestic creative hand of God. This is the land of lani (heaven).
This is Hawaii.

Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the Pacific Plate thousands of miles from the closest land mass, the fiftieth state in the Union is an island chain. Hawaii has been isolated and free to evolve until the arrival of the Polynesians in 500 A.D. and the Europeans, care of Captain James Cook, in the 18th century.

The isolation of the islands has provided a perfect environment for adaptive radiation of species and the evolution of new species. From the biological standpoint, many plants and animal species found in Hawaii are endemic — native only to Hawaii — and, therefore, the only place to truly study them is in the field.

Inversely, with the introduction of plants and animals, as well as diseases from the rest of the world, so many rare species of plants and animals have become extinct, making Hawaii the extinction capital of the world.

The islands, volcanic in nature, are some of the youngest land masses in the world. The oldest island of the populated Hawaiian chain is Kauai at six million years old. The youngest is the big island of Hawaii.

On June 6, I departed for the island of Oahu, Hawaii, with the North Lake College Hawaiian Field Studies Program. Ahead of me was two long weeks of arduous hikes, exhaustive study, and 13 college credit hours in one of the best environments for biological and geological study.

As a science major, the chance to study in Hawaii is worth the monetary expense simply because this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Traveling with the students were Professor Mike Huddleston for biology, botany, ecology and Hawaiian Natural History; Professor Ron Beecham for biology, Invertebrate Zoology, and botany; Professor Leonard Kubicek for geology; Matthew Dempsey for Invertebrate Zoology and biology; Leimomi Huddleston for physical driver.

I have been a student at North Lake College for what seems like a lifetime, so I had undoubtedly heard of the Hawaiian Field Studies Program long before this last semester, but because of personal matters I never could find the time to make the trip regardless of how much I wanted to go. Last year I decided nothing was coming between me and this experience, and my resolve paid off in the end. Unfortunately, I had already taken the maximum amount of transferable sophomore credit hours, so in the long run, degree advancement wasn’t exactly obtained. Regardless, I knew that I needed to go for my own benefit.

Before taking Biology I and II with instructors Huddleston and Dempsey, I was planning to pursue a Liberal Arts degree simply because I was too indecisive in my major. However, after completing the courses and allowing my mental dust to settle, I knew I wanted to major in biology. Having been so greatly impacted by my two newfound mentors, I learned more about what I believed I wanted to do in life, but I wanted reassurance of my convictions to the field beyond my own assumptions.

Enter the field studies program. Convincing my father, a science major mind you, that a trip to Hawaii would benefit my major studies more then my suntan was a battle of its own, but fortunately the well organized, professional and scholastic curriculum made proving the trip’s merit much easier. Since the college has been taking students to Hawaii for more than 20 years, the bugs have all been worked out and the organization of the trip makes the process much less painful.

Once arriving in Hawaii, we were on the go until the moment we left. Waking up at five in the morning for tide pooling at Anini Reef, plant identification and dissections at Kauai Community College, hiking through six miles of mountain-side and swamps, collecting botanical specimens in Kauai, taxonomic identification and collection, trekking across infant lava rock to view active flows at Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, traveling to the 8,000 ft. elevation on top of the Mauna Loa Observatory to view the stars, and test after test.

I’m amazed at the amount of activities we did over a two-week period, but I couldn’t have been happier. That’s what I wanted. I longed to be beaten into the ground every morning and night. I paid for a physically exerting trip through the most pristine environments to study the most unique and rare specimens our world has to offer, not to sit in a hotel room or lounge by the pool. For that alone, I thank the foresight of my teachers. I am grateful to them for making the trip what it is, and for putting so much work into it because without their motivation to sustain a constant drive for education and study, the students would undoubtedly fall by the roadside.

One of the most surprising things I found on the trip is the amount of bonding that takes place. I left Dallas knowing only teachers, and came home with an address book full of wonderful people and positive experiences. I’d never experienced such unity among a group of complete strangers and such different (culturally and subculturally) individuals.

This doesn’t merely apply to students either. Never would I have thought I would be having a cook-out with my professors, or eating sushi with them in Waikiki. Better yet, never in my wildest presumptions would I have thought I would be sitting in a hot tub with my mentor professor and his son discussing Japanese culture and food. But that is the magic of the trip.

Yes, you have an opportunity to learn about plants, rocks, animals and everything else under the sun, but you get to learn about yourself, your teachers and people from all walks of life. The experience alone is worth more than any college transcript or any degree because you are learning about the world beyond the textbook, and nothing compares to that.

I cannot say it enough — Hawaii is the most magical place. I feel it to be a true spiritual anchor; one you will never grasp until you have met her face to face. From the educational side, the trip validated my feelings about the field of biological studies. Personally, I learned more about myself and other people then I had in all previous life experiences.

Even if you aren’t a science major, this trip is a great way to get the credits you need for your degree, but more importantly it will benefit you on a personal level beyond what any classroom experience can offer. Because to understand the world and yourself you must get out of the classroom, outside the four walls and fluorescent lights, and bask in the glory of nature and God’s creations — beyond the institutions, beyond obligations, immersed in nature and serenity, and right where you need to be.