Temple students scored some bling-bling this week while supporting their fellow Owls: the geology department’s 39th annual jewelry sale sparkled and shimmered in the lobby of the Tuttleman Learning Center.
The sale, which ends today, helped to subsidize the $3,000 bill for the required senior geology field camp.
Dr. Gene Ulmer, a professor in the geology department, has helped to coordinate the sale since he came to Temple 34 years ago.
“When students take the field camp course they owe the tuition and can’t work.” Ulmer said. “It’s a double whammy. So we try to get some scholarship from the jewelry sale to put money in their pocket.”
All geology students studying to receive a degree must complete the camp, which is not offered by Temple. The camp usually takes place out West, often in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
For a geology student, the field camp comes as a requisite with good reason. Katy Swan, a geology major in her senior year, went to the Black Hills of South Dakota for her field camp.
“We used mapping instruments, stuff you can’t do in Philadelphia.” she said. “You’re hiking all day. It’s real field work you’re going to use in your career.”
Swan has been part of the jewelry sale operation since she started attending Temple four years ago. She said students have been working on this year’s sale since the beginning of October.
A wide variety of items were available at the jewelry sale, including a variety of polished rocks, carved soapstone from India and Pakistan, colorful amethysts from Paraguay, earrings, and other wearable jewelry. Some items were obtained from local artists and dealers, while others were created by geology students in the department’s rock lab.
In addition to the jewelry, geology students worked on Christmas decorations for the past two months to sell at the event.
James Saul can be reached at jamsaul@temple.edu.
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