Where the Classroom Meets the Canyon: Geosciences Students Learn by Doing

There is no textbook substitute for standing at the rim of Bryce Canyon, reading millions of years of Earth’s history in the rock formations below. For students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s School of Geosciences, that experience is not a dream – it’s a graduation requirement.

Each summer, geology students trade lecture halls for national parks through GEOL 400, the School’s Geology Field Camp class. Over six weeks, May through June, students apply classroom knowledge to real geologic settings across the American West, including Bryce Canyon, the Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone National Park. The course draws applicants from universities across the country, selected based on academic merit and a passion for understanding the Earth.

“Field Camp is where geology students become geologists,” says Dr. Brian Schubert, Geosciences Director. “You can teach a student to read a geologic map in a classroom, but there is nothing like putting them in the field to see, touch, and interpret the real thing.”
For students, the opportunity is often a turning point. “After spending years studying geology in the classroom, the opportunity to work in the field and directly observe geologic features, while applying the knowledge gained in coursework was extremely rewarding,” says class of 2026 geology graduate, Caitlyn Mullis.

That kind of hands-on preparation does not happen without sustained support. And for UL Lafayette geology students, much of that support traces back to one family’s enduring love for the University and for the science it taught them.
Paul Cameron McWilliams (‘79) and his twin brother Patrick McWilliams (‘80) both graduated from what was then the University of Southwestern Louisiana with degrees in Geology. They went on to build successful careers as independent oil and gas producers; their entrepreneurial spirit shaped in no small part by the foundation built here. When Paul passed away in 2020, he left a $1 million estate gift to the University’s School of Geosciences, one of the most generous legacy gifts in the program’s history.

The Paul C. McWilliams and Patrick T. McWilliams Endowment for the Study of Geology now provides annual support for Field Camp, weekend field trip expenses, and student scholarships, ensuring that future generations of Ragin’ Cajun geologists have the same opportunities that shaped Paul and Pat’s lives and careers.

The next student who stands at the rim of Bryce Canyon, notebook in hand, horizon stretching before them, will get there with a little help from two brothers who stood somewhere similar decades ago and never forgot what it meant.