Digging Up Opportunities

Sam Engrav ’21, White Bear Lake, Minn.
Majors/Minor: Biology and Psychology; Chemistry

Engrav is highly engaged at Concordia, involved in various programs like music, club sports, and research. She is a great testament to how involvement in multiple activities can help better prepare you to reach your goals after graduation. I had a chance to interview Engrav to learn about her experiences in field research, as well as her busy life at Concordia.

Why did you choose Concordia and what are you involved in here?

I’m a second-year student from White Bear Lake, Minn. I’m currently majoring in biology and psychology with a minor in chemistry. When I’m not studying or doing homework, I’m playing flute in The Concordia Band, Ultimate Frisbee in the club Valhalla, and I spend a lot of time in the dinosaur lab. Outside of campus, I volunteer in the ER at Essentia Health on the weekends. 

Overall, I would say that these opportunities are the ones that drew me to Concordia, especially because of Concordia’s dedication to science and the arts. I wanted to continue my education at a place that wouldn’t force me to decide between my passions in music and learning. Concordia also stood out in its pushing for opportunity – for trying things that you otherwise wouldn’t think of trying. That’s honestly the reason I ended up in the lab in the first place. 

What do you like about the biology program?

Not long before arriving here, I was primarily considering music performance or education (with medicine being my other potential path). I knew that Concordia had a phenomenal reputation when it came to placing pre-med students and that definitely swayed my decision to the college as a whole. 

After more than a year in the program, I really only have good things to say about it. I love having the opportunity to conduct research within the classes that I’m taking and having the opportunity to connect with faculty has been a fantastic part of my major experience. The fact that we are pushed to not only learn but independently apply what we’ve learned to real-world problems and research questions has made learning interesting and enjoyable. 

Could you tell us about your trip to Montana this past summer?

I feel like I could write a whole novel about it honestly. A team of 16 of us traveled out to Jordan, Mont., to collect dinosaur bones to bring back to Concordia for study. We camped for about two weeks on a Concordia grad’s ranch land and spent our time hiking, identifying, excavating, and collecting a variety of dinosaur bones in the hope that we could return them to Concordia. Throughout that time we also had the chance to learn from a variety of biologists, geologists, and paleontologists (a number of them were also Concordia alumni) about dinosaurs, the geology of the area, and basic survival tips. Most of our days fell into a similar pattern of waking up, going out and hiking in the Hell’s Creek Formation for bones until we returned to camp for dinner, camp work, rinse and repeat.

Although the work each day was different. We often split off into different groups to cover different areas. You could be hiking 10 miles one day or carrying out a 250-pound bone the next. Some days you were uncovering bones, other times you were just hoping to find fragments and not get lost. 

However, for all the time we spent out in the field, the brunt of our work didn’t begin until we came back to Concordia. Now that we’ve returned all the bones we collected to the lab, those of us involved have been working on restoring what we collected in hopes it can be presented and researched. I know that several people working in the lab have presented research on a number of things they’ve found in past years and I am fortunate to be working on a project with an Allosaurus specimen that was collected along with restoring a handful of bones. I often joke that our jobs are similar to a behind-the-scenes aspect of a “Jurassic Park” movie. Overall, it’s an indescribably incredible experience!

Do you have any advice for a prospective student looking to study at Concordia, specifically in the chemistry or biology programs?

I think my biggest piece of advice for students in biology and chemistry would be to find an outlet that’s not bio or chem. Find something away from those sciences: art, music, athletics, social studies classes, anything to give yourself a break from the work you’ll be doing there. Not only that but, overall, find and participate in something that isn’t built around graduate school in biology or chemistry.

Do something that you otherwise wouldn’t do. There are so many incredible opportunities to meet people and try things that you would never experience if you completely focused your entire life around the academic sciences, which is easy to do.

^{Published March 2019}