<p>
	<em>Alex de Sosa is a senior at aWheaton&nbsp;College in Wheaton, IL. &nbsp;This summer, she&#39;s studying wetland plants of Grand Traverse Bay shoreline. She is assessing wetland plants to get a handle of what a &#39;representative&#39; community should look like as a reference for homeowners dealing with Phragmites (an invasive reed).</em></p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Alex-de-Sosa.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; height: 188px; " />I was just about ready to leave the park. It had been a long weekend, and I was too tired to finish the rest of the wetland inventory I had set out to do that Tuesday morning. I packed up the measuring tapes, the GPS, the quadrat, notebook and pencil, a 45-minute drive the only thing between me and a nap. As I slung my pack onto my shoulders, I looked up. Directly in front of me, a massive bird--brown, with a big white tail--swung low to say, &quot;Hello.&quot; A bald eagle. I had never seen one so close and I think I yelled, &quot;Shut up!&quot; (my common expression of disbelief). Instead of leaving, I decided to stay. Who knows what wonders I would have missed if I retreated to my comfy bed?</p>
<p>
	And that&#39;s exactly what this summer doing research at Au Sable has been like. I came in nervous about doing research, scared that I am not &quot;scientific&quot; enough to examine God&#39;s creation. Despite the fact that I am the only research student not currently considering grad <img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Alex-de-Sosa-plant.jpg" style="float: left; width: 250px; height: 270px; " />school (I want to be an innkeeper, a farmer, and maybe even a pilot -- the jury&#39;s still out!), I have seen so clearly this summer that God has not called scientists alone to wonder at the things he has made. He calls everyone, potential innkeepers included. Every long drive out to&nbsp;Traverse City was filled with anticipation of the different plant species I would find in the wetland. From Loesel&#39;s Twayblade to the Common Arrowhead, each trip was an exercise in discovery. Every time I recorded a species I had never seen before, I felt as though I had discovered it for the first time. I might not have known it was there, but God knew. And, to think, I would have missed it all if my nerves would have kept me away from Au Sable!</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Alex-de-Sosa-snake.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; height: 166px; " />Research was not just course work for credit, it&nbsp;has left me with a deeper appreciation of the mysteries that lie inside every forest, wetland, or lake, a deep reminder that God is full of mysteries. My project allowed me to take my time in each wetland. I didn&#39;t have to rush through to collect data, I could pause and look out on Lake Michigan, play with frogs, or examine plants I had never seen. I want my life to be like that, a slow and memorable discovery of all the Lord is.</p>
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<p>
	<a href="/news_and_resources/blog/collin_whitsett_pitchers_thistle_research_part_1">Read about Collin Whitsett&#39;s research</a> on the Pitcher&#39;s Thistle and how his work can help to conserve this threatened species.&nbsp;</p>
