A 23-year-old SUCO biology major will be leaving next week for the trip of a lifetime as he furthers his studies.
College senior Jonathan Puylara, a Milford High School graduate, is the only local student who is attending a Costa Rican tropical biology and conservation class for SUCO college credit, said Nancy Wolters, State University College at Oneonta associate provost for academic support.
He will be taking the independent study class at the El Zota Biological Field Station from July 15 to Aug. 11, he said. The class is being taught by SUCO Professor Nigel Mann, for DANTA, a Davenport nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the tropics, according to the group's website.
Puylara credits his high school biology teacher, Meg Subek, with getting him interested in the biological sciences.
"It's nice to hear that what you do in the classroom has an impact," she said Tuesday. She has kept in touch with him over the years, she said, and "he's a hard worker."
This is the third year that Mann will be teaching the course at El Zota, which is in the rain forest, Wolters said.
Puylara, who speaks little Spanish, said he will be paying the $1,850 for all expenses outside regular college costs, and it will provide a valuable experience that will help him set goals.
He did not feel his lack of linguistic skills will be a factor because he will be working and learning with people who speak English.
Puylara said he is not sure what he will pursue when he gets his bachelor's degree. Conservation is one of his interests, he said. During the session, "I'll see how it fits me."
According to Wolters, the first half of the class will introduce a range of ecological field techniques, addressing questions related to habitat characteristics, species interactions, population size and diversity, with an emphasis on issues related to conservation. The second half will require spending many hours in the field and will be written up as a full scientific report. This research will provide an authentic and challenging experience of what it is like to be a tropical field biologist, she said.
Puylara said that he is busy buying items for the trip, he said, including bug spray and mosquito nets. "It's been a long process."
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