Bats, and Tarantulas, and Beetles...Oh My!

In honor of Halloween, this post is dedicated to all things spooky around the Goulet Science Center here at Saint Anselm College. The college has a large collection of preserved critters ranging from tiny tarantulas and scorpions to giant moose skulls and whale ribs. Check it out!

Bat Specimens

Embryonic Chick Stained Blue

Tarantula in a Cup 

Some Beetles in a Drawer

Some Rodents (and a Monkey) in a Drawer

Whale Teeth and a Whale Rib 

Human Skeleton (yes, it's real)

Moose Skull

Student Spotlight on Rachael Nelson

This week in our Student Spotlight blog, we are featuring Rachael Nelson. Rachael was a New Hampshire Science Olympiad competitor who has gone on to do many great things since graduating high school. Check it out!

"Hello! My name is Rachael Nelson and I am a junior at Saint Anselm College. I am double majoring in Classical Archaeology and Art History and minoring in Latin. I attended Milford High School and participated in Science Olympiad my sophomore and junior years. My events were Fossils, Geological Mapping, and Astronomy. Now that I am in college I help to prepare for the NH State Science Olympiad competition. I am also involved with the Classics Society here on campus, as well as the Student Alumni Ambassadors, and the campus literary magazine Quatrain. I am preparing for my senior year and starting to look for graduate schools. I hope to study the conservation of archaeological artifacts in the future.

Last semester I had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in Italy for six months. I took classes in Latin, ancient warfare, theology, philosophy, and Italian culture. I traveled all over Italy and got to visit famous places such as Pompeii, Rome, Florence, and Paestum. As a person who has studied the archaeology of Rome for years, it was particularly special to see in person all of the artifacts and locations I had only ever seen in pictures in textbooks before. When the semester was over, instead of going home I stayed in Italy for an additional two months to work on an archaeological dig outside of Orvieto, Italy. I am of the opinion that hands-on learning is the best kind of learning. I was able to help excavate archaeological features that date back to the sixth century BCE! If I can give any advice to students going into college, I would advise them to get as involved as possible on campus their freshman year, and to seriously consider studying abroad."