Sacred Heart student spends two weeks at paleontology camp.

By: Dorothy Crouse

This summer from the last week of June to the first week of July, junior Parker Hoffman attended a prestigious paleontology camp. When Hoffman was little, he watched a lot of dinosaur documentaries. Watching these movies created an interest of paleontology in him.

To be accepted into this camp Hoffman had to apply ahead of time and receive a letter of recommendation. The camp had an age range of 14-17, but Hoffman’s group was the 16-17’s. The camp was run by Fort Hays State University. The dig site where they spent most of their time was about an hour west from the campus.

During the first week the campers arrived at the dig site where they dug up a mosasaur (pictured on the left). Over the weekend the campers went back to the dorms and did comparative anatomy. The second week the group got rained out of their dig sites, so they went to Denver, Colorado to see the natural history museum and dinosaur ridge.

This experience made Hoffman realize he did not necessarily want to be a Paleontologist that does the field and lab work, but he still wants to have a future in something related to Paleontology.