"Hey, this is kind of interesting."

Mr. Kevin Quick, a science department faculty member and assistant on our summer Peccary Trip, handed me a fist-sized rock cobble with a piece of fossil bone poking out of the side.

"Where did you find that?!" I exclaimed. Seeing a distinctive dimpled texture on the bone's surface, I was definitely intrigued. Not only was it from a crocodile, it was a piece of crocodile skull! A very rare find, indeed.

This is just one snapshot of a day collecting fossils in southern Utah. Every summer, Alf Museum staff, Webb faculty, students, and volunteers make the trek from Claremont to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. As one of the last, great, unexplored dinosaur deposits in the continental United States, a major find could turn up at any time. In 2004, a museum volunteer found the skull of a new species of dinosaur. In 2005, a Webb student discovered the partial skeleton of a previously unknown tyrannosaur. And just a few weeks ago, this non-descript piece of rock added another important dimension to our knowledge of Earth's past.

Although our primary purpose is scientific, these summer Peccary Trips (named after a peccary, or pig, skull found on an early expedition) also offer important life lessons for our Webb students. We have to hike several miles across some of Utah's most remote and rugged terrain just to get to the edge of the fossil beds. This effort isn't purely physical - it also takes a mental toughness to push through to the end. Even the students who have never camped or hiked in such conditions before quickly rise to the challenge. In the pursuit of discovering fossils, students learn perseverance and the importance of teamwork, and this new crocodile find would prove to be a great challenge.

The cobble of rock had a relatively fresh broken surface, so more bone had to be out there somewhere. One of the most basic rules of fossil collecting is to always follow the bone uphill. In this case, the task was daunting. The original find was found at the bottom of a steep 100-foot high slope covered in brush, loose rock, and mud from a recent rainstorm. The fossil could have come from nearly anywhere!

Recruiting a half-dozen students, Mr. Quick started the arduous task of locating the original bone layer. Literally leaving no stone unturned, they spent nearly two hours on that slope. Searching on the last day of the trip, we didn't have a lot of time, so this could be our only chance to find the rest of the specimen.

Finally, Sam Woodward ’12 found it. A thin lens of sandstone, nearly entirely obscured by loose debris, hosted a big chunk of crocodile skull. Sam and Mr. Quick did a fantastic job of carefully exposing the fossil, using small hand tools and special glues to preserve the delicate bone. I let out a brief exclamation of extreme happiness - this could be a major find!

We only had a few hours left before we had to leave the field, not nearly enough time to properly collect the specimen. Furthermore, I could see that the find was potentially large enough that we would need an excavation permit to continue. Sadly, we will have to endure another long lesson in patience as it won’t be until next year when find out just how much of that crocodile is in the hillside. Somewhat reluctantly, we stabilized the specimen and covered the site for the coming winter.

Mr. Quick, the students, and I are all abuzz about our latest find.  How much of the crocodile skull is there? What kind of crocodile is it? Is it a species new to science? After 75 million years, we'll just have to wait one more year to find out.

One of the specific philosophies of Unbounded Thinking, of The Webb Schools in general and of my own personal convictions is that it isn’t enough to simply learn. One has to do. One has to experience.

It is because of this philosophy that Webb has many outdoor and real-world experiences. We go on retreats and Peccary trips, hike in the Grand Canyon, Half Dome, Montana and Utah; travel to Spain, France, China, South America and many others every year.

As the new Science Department Chair, I wanted not only to embrace this philosophy and these adventures but to expand on them. Thus, I decided in the fall of this school year that a trip to the small country of Belize would be the perfect addition. My wife and I have had many previous travels in Belize and felt strongly that it is a very special place that Webb students should experience.

Belize is a small country of only 380,000 people that is situated on the Caribbean just below the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It has many beautiful and remote islands within 1-2 hours’ boat ride of its mainland.  Many of these islands are uninhabited. It’s warm, pristine tropical waters boast the largest barrier reef system in the western hemisphere and is 2^nd in size only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia (the world’s largest!).  Belize used to be called the British Honduras and was a colony of the British Empire form the mid-1800’s to the 1960’s. The English mined for precious metals, lumbered for teak, mahogany and ironwood trees and created many valuable dyes from plants found in the rainforests there. In 1968, Great Britain began the process of independence and in 1982 the country accomplished sovereignty and became known as Belize. It has amazing diversity in its plants, animals and people. There are several distinct peoples in Belize that create a varied yet cohesive culture. Mayan ancestors from the Mayan empire (its peak was 1000-1500 years ago), Spanish ancestors (from Cortez and the Spanish Incursion of the 16^th century), African ancestors (from the slave trade) that fractured into islanders, Creole and Rastafarians and Mezitos (Spanish and Mayan mixed blood). Amazingly, all of these cultures get along well together. Belize is a 3^rd world country that is both poor and yet not impoverished. By that I mean most Belizeans have little money but do have homes they built, land and space, and they grow much of their own food. The one exception is the poor who live in Belize City where a large slum exists.

The Webb students experienced all of these things as well as all of the natural wonders that exist there. We snorkeled in areas that were completely pristine and protected as well as areas that were over-fished and had lost much of their biodiversity. We snorkeled in areas where the students could see the economic and nature benefits of ecotourism and yet on the same boat trip to get there, plastic pollution and trash were evident from cruise ships even on the most remote beaches.

We canoed up ancient rivers through pristine rainforest, jumped off waterfalls and waterside cliffs. We swam into cave systems that went for miles. Leaving the water, we hiked into caverns that held the remains of ancient Mayan rituals and the skeletons of Shamans (Mayan spiritual doctors) who were considered the only guides to and through the underworld. The ancient Mayan culture made a great impression on my students and inspired respect for the knowledge, skills and courage of ancient peoples.

 Our Webb students were amazed by what they saw and experienced. I think more importantly, they experienced many priceless, thoughtful and life-changing moments first-hand of what it might have been like to be an ancient indigenous person, a poor person in a 3^rd world country of today, a farmer or a fisherman who relies on his/her daily work for food and money, and a guide who makes his/her living from tourists. Global issues were/are apparent in Belize. Our students not only became aware of these issues, they grew tremendously as thoughtful and responsible Global citizens.

To me, “way beyond the standard” means affecting our students in deep, meaningful and life-changing ways. I cannot help but feel that our Belize students will not only remember this journey, but will also be positively affected by it the rest of their lives. I know my wife and I will…

For over 70 years, students from Webb have been trekking into the Mojave Desert in search of the long-vanished inhabitants of southern California. In the early days, small groups of boys made the trip with Ray Alf. Now, it's an important part of the freshman year experience, for every single Webbie.

The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, a nationally accredited and globally known research institution on the Webb campus, is devoted to education and research. Some students come to Webb knowing that they want to be involved in the museum program. But, many know very little about paleontology or why a high school would have a museum. Weekend field trips (known as peccary trips) are a fantastic way to communicate this - and also a way to give kids a taste of real-life science.

On two weekends every year (one for freshman boys and one for freshman girls), students explore the desert near Barstow, California, under the guidance of Webb faculty and Alf Museum paleontologists. As one of those paleontologists, and as an advisor to freshman boys, I can attest that this experience is rewarding for everyone involved. Many of the students are a little anxious prior to the trip. Will it be hot? Will I find anything? Are there snakes? Some students have never camped out under the stars. Although fossils are the focus of the trip, it's also about stepping outside one's comfort zone and trying something new.

A typical freshman trip involves setting up camp and then hiking for a mile or two out to Webb's traditional fossil collecting localities. The students learn how to distinguish between fossil bone and rock (it gets easier with practice), as well as which specimens are collectible for research purposes and which can be left for the next person to find. The fascinating history of southern California is at center stage. Fifteen million years ago, the Mojave Desert was covered by scrubs and grass, and was the home of diminutive horses, giant camels, elephants, and bear-dogs. Horses are by far the most common finds - a little patience and luck can turn up some excellent specimens. One student recently found a perfectly preserved horse hoof, and another a horse jaw. These fossils, a priceless record of our planet's history, are collected and brought back to the museum for study by Webb students as well as outside researchers.

After a day out in the field, it's time to head back to camp. Some of the students help prepare supper (burgers on the grill), followed by s’mores on the campfire and a short talk about Webb's history of fossil collecting. Steve Sittig, one of Webb's science teachers, often brings out some telescopes. Following hours of looking down at the ground for fossils, it's only appropriate to look up to the heavens. With clear skies and little light pollution, sights like Saturn can be spectacular. We sleep out under the stars, waking early the next morning for breakfast, a few more hours of fossil collecting, and then the drive back to campus.

There is something for every student on this trip. Some confirm their dedication to paleontology and Webb's museum program and go on to immerse themselves in the museum's paleontology, museum studies, and research courses. Others have an enjoyable weekend in the outdoors and return with a few stories to tell their friends. As a paleontologist and teacher, its fun to see a student get "turned on" to science. Many kids never know how much they're going to enjoy the trip, until they give it a try. Maybe it was something about the hikes, or the camaraderie, or a particularly well-preserved fossil. No matter what the cause, these students are hooked, and keep coming back for more. This is what the museum program at Webb is really about - a unique, challenging experience that changes the way our students look at the world.

When most people think of a paleontology museum, they imagine displays of dinosaur skeletons with some nice, shiny signage. But, where does the information on these signs come from? Quite simply: paleontologists, the scientists who study life of the past.

Judging by portrayals on television, science requires test tubes, lab coats, and multi-million dollar equipment. Not so in paleontology! Some of the most important information comes from just looking at a fossil, taking measurements, and comparing with other specimens. On top of this, it doesn't take long to reach the limits of our knowledge. There is so much we don't know, and every fossil has the potential to add important new information. For this reason, *anyone* - whether a high school student, professional paleontologist, or amateur collector - can make a major intellectual contribution.

As one of two paleontologists at the Alf Museum (the other is Dr. Don Lofgren), it's a real joy to involve Webb students in every phase of research. No other high school on Earth has a working paleontology museum, and it offers some absolutely unique opportunities. Students are there from the moment of discovery, right up until publication. They have helped to describe new species, presented their work at professional conferences, and collaborated with world-renowned paleontologists from other institutions.

As one example, Webb students Kit Clark ’04 and Ben Scherer ’02 helped describe the first discovery in Utah of a small mammal called Stygimys. This work (co-authored with Don Lofgren and paleontologist Barbara Standhardt) was published in Journal of Mammalian Evolution. Inspired in part by this experience, Kit is now finishing up his graduate studies in geology at University of Nebraska.

Another student, Gy-Su Kim '10, worked on identifying small carnivorous dinosaur teeth that she and other Webb students collected on a summer trip to southern Utah. Gy-Su presented the work at a professional conference, and consequently was invited as a co-author on a book chapter (to be published next year, if all goes well). Among her fossil identifications was the first possible bird tooth known from the state of Utah - a very rare find!

Our students are working on a diverse array of topics - from dinosaur eggshell to elephant jaws to possible fossilized owl pellets. Because paleontology is such a small field, some of our students have literally become the world experts on their topic of study! It's a lot of fun to see their faces when they come to this realization… when they understand that the knowledge they've discovered isn't in any textbook. It's not even in the professional journals. They are the first human beings to make that discovery. How cool is that? Anyone can do science!