UT wetlands class takes its exam into the mud at Weedon Island
Students mapped plants and marked Hurricane Helene's storm surge for a field practicum.
TAMPA - A University of Tampa environmental studies class swapped the exam room for Weedon Island Preserve this week, the university's news office reported Nov. 12.
Students in the Water, Wetlands and Wildlife course, taught by Assistant Professor Kendal Jackson, worked in teams on a practicum for the coastal wetlands unit. They identified native plants with a coastal vegetation guide, then used topographic maps, tape measures and flagging tape to mark on tree trunks how high the water rose in the preserve during Hurricane Helene in 2024, according to the article.
The class goes into the field every week. The university said Jackson built it around skills used in field research jobs, such as wetland delineation work for government water agencies or engineering consultants, rather than lessons tied only to wetlands. The students are upperclassmen from several majors in the College of Natural and Health Sciences.
Jackson told the university the goal is to give students "a realistic sense of what it's like to work as a field scientist."
Source: University of Tampa, Wetlands Course Offers Students Realistic Field Experience (UTampa Current, Nov. 12, 2026).