A field trip to Prudence Island–the third-largest island in Narragansett Bay–has become an annual tradition for Upper School Environmental Science students, taught this year by Tara Tsakraklides and Jennifer Bowdoin. Throughout the day, students examine invasive crab populations, observe the local impacts of climate change, and investigate the rich biodiversity thriving across the island's marshlands.

In a change this year, science and visual arts collided when students in Advanced Seminar in Studio Art joined the adventure. The island experience aligned naturally with the artists' central task for the year: creating a 20-piece portfolio, 15 pieces of which must demonstrate a "sustained investigation" into a personal inquiry.

“When we realized that the majority of our artists' inquiries centered around nature's processes and our human relationship to them,” said visual arts instructor Ashley Szczesiak, “we jumped at the chance to join the Environmental Science classes on their field trip!”

On the island, the art students balanced dual priorities. They actively engaged in field science with the other students–collecting data and specimens along the shoreline and marshes–while also stepping back to document and reflect on nature's beauty to fuel their studio projects back at school.

The hands-on experience was organized in collaboration with the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, led by Education Coordinator Maureen Dewire. Guiding the group out to the salt marshes during low tide, Dewire highlighted the complex web of marsh life and explained how shifting climate patterns are transforming the coastal environment. Later along the rocky shoreline, she coached students on field-data collection techniques as they conducted a hands-on survey of invasive Asian shore crabs using standard scientific sampling methods.