BSU Students Embark Upon 10-Day Camping Trip Spanning 5 National Parks, 1,500 Miles

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — While many college students are interning, working or taking classes during the summer, 10 students attending Bowie State University embarked upon a 10-day 1,500-mile camping trip to five national parks to experience the outdoors, explore the physical geography, history and cultural landscape of the western United States.

“Bowie State received a grant from the American Association of Geographers that will be used to enable students to explore our National Parks,” Dr. Sumanth Reddy, a geography professor at BSU, said. “The university is one of the first HBCUs to embark on a trip to some of our nations’ most coveted and pristine locations to enable students to discover history and explore habitat in nature’s classroom."

The students visited five parks: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Arches National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. They will also visit the Four Corners Monument, which marks the point in the Southwestern United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet. It is the only point in the nation shared by four states and is maintained by the Navajo Nation.

“What a great adventure for these students and what a great way to connect them with the special and irreplaceable geographies of the American Southwest,” said Gary Langham, executive Director of the American Association of Geographers. “We’re grateful that Dr. Reddy approached us with such an imaginative proposal for funding through our Bridging the Digital Divide program.”

“This has been such a great experience,” added Zoey Days a junior biology major at BSU. “Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is just breath taking. I was also impressed with the stone arches formed over millions of years that I saw at Arches National Park. The trip has given me hope and made me believe that the world is not as bad as many people think."

“I met people from around the world who came to visit our national parks,” Kwari Jackson, a BSU sophomore history major, noted. “Visiting the parks was a treat. Camping outside in a tent, nature, Grand Canyon, the Arches and the other sites were much more than I ever imagined. I’ll definitely come back."

In addition to Days and Jackson, the eight other BSU students who participated on the 10-day National Parks camping trip were Kevon Allen, a sophomore and elementary education major; Alma Bangura, a junior majoring in government; Malaika Dixon, a senior computer science major; Kalil Greenfield Jr., a sophomore history major; Ayen Kuol, a computer science graduate student; Rodah Ngorem, a sophomore majoring in nursing; Bridget Oppong, a junior computer technology major; and Mark Sims Jr., a freshman majoring in communication.

“In the future, students will be required to create a video, write a paper, blog or publish on a topic of their choice that is related to what they saw, experienced and learned on the trip. They will also be eligible to receive three to six independent study credits in geography,” Reddy said.