Immerse yourself in a campus culture that's as eclectic as you are.
Wild Classroom
Eliza Smith ’27 has climbed South Colton Cliff, paddled the 90-Miler and backpacked Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, all through SUNY Potsdam’s Wilderness Education program. Now she’s teaching other students the ropes.
This summer, exercise science major Morgan Williams ’27 interned with ChildVision in Dublin, caring for horses and supporting equine therapy sessions for children with disabilities and special needs. She also visited 10 other countries while abroad. Now she's setting her sights on a career in sports medicine.
Aardvarks, African wild dogs, lions, and giraffes have been walking into camera traps set by SUNY Potsdam's Dr. Bridget Amulike and Dr. Glenn Johnson in Tanzania's Katavi National Park. This summer, the SUNY Potsdam professors set up 32 cameras across Katavi National Park to learn more about wildlife in an area that has received little study. Their goal is to build data that could one day support conservation, while giving Potsdam students hands-on experience in biodiversity research along the way.
Three years ago, Davida Owusu-Achiaa '27boarded a bus to SUNY Potsdam just to keep a friend company. That trip changed everything. Now a senior business administration major, Davida just spent her summer as a leader for the EOP program—guiding the next class of incoming students through the same experience that changed her path.
With an ongoing focus on applied learning, SharonMarie Bartz '25 & '27 has never stopped digging into history. Through the Gardiner Summer Fellowship, she uncovered local Revolutionary War history, then turned to studying how propaganda shaped WWI and WWII, taking her research all the way to museums in New Orleans and Washington, D.C.
Sharp trowels, sharper leadership. For the ninth year, Dr. Hadley Kruczek-Aaron led SUNY Potsdam's Archaeology Field School—12 students, one month in the Adirondacks, and a dig into the tourism history at the historic Log Hotel.
Working under the guidance of Dr. Caroline Downing, three students gained valuable hands-on experience in the Gibson Gallery this summer. Katelin Babbitt '26, Lance Wilson '27 and SharonMarie Bartz '26 put their skills to the test by installing Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Stephan Savoia’s photography exhibition, with a few career-defining conversations along the way.
Deep in the woods of St. Lawrence County, two SUNY Potsdam students have been hunting mosquitoes in search of data on vector-borne diseases. Aaron Barragan '29 and mentor Ellie Barbolt '27 have been spending their summer collecting samples across four North Country research sites—generating data on West Nile Virus, EEE, and more. Their work is part of an EOP and PIP-funded internship program supporting the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department.
From ice climbing in the Adirondacks to covering the Yankees, Maria Aldrich '22followed one of the most untraditional paths into sports writing. She didn't study journalism—she studied exercise science and wilderness education. But a liberal arts education was never about one narrow track; it's about building the adaptability to go wherever life takes you next. For Maria, that meant turning a passion for storytelling into a career covering pro sports for national outlets.
It starts with a single word—but it’s part of a larger transformation in literacy education. Through the Reading Ready program, SUNY Potsdam students are working one-on-one with local children to build foundational reading skills and confidence.
From the training room to the weight room, SUNY Potsdam exercise science students are turning classroom knowledge into real-world impact. Through hands-on internships across Northern New York, they’re building skills, confidence and connections that will power their careers.
