Highlands IE
Finding the Silver Lining
Hurricane Helene uprooted (no pun intended) our whole program almost exactly one month ago. While I don’t want to belittle the...
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Highlands IE
Connection
Each year, I choose at least one thing to really focus on developing and appreciating. Last year, 2023, I chose healing and strength....
Highlands IE
August
An August ago, I was a freshman moving into my jail cell of a dorm on south campus. I didn't know where anything was (I still probably...
Highlands IE
Labor Day Weekend
Time flies when you're at HBS apparently, cuz somehow it's already September and the leaves are gonna start turning soon! As someone who...
Highlands IE
Santeelah Memories, Cheoah Tragedies
There are some 30,000 lakes present in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, and not one of them is naturally occurring. Every single one...
Highlands IE
I can't wait to leave, and then come back.
This semester has been my most rewarding since coming to UNC Chapel Hill, and I haven't even been on UNC campus since the spring. It will...
Highlands IE
Family Christmas
We (Highlands IE students) started this semester as a group of near strangers. A few of us knew one another through classes or had mutual...
Highlands IE
The epic highs and lows of the Highlands tailgate
“BACK IN BLACK!” Connor and I screamed along to the quintessential AC/DC song blaring from my car speakers as we crept up Little Scaly...
Highlands IE
Monarch Therapy
Midway through September, a new visitor graces the Western North Carolina mountains. And no, I’m not referring to Bigfoot. It’s the...
Highlands IE
Stargazing
I’ve never paid much attention to the night skies until recently. I grew up in the middle of suburbia, about 15 miles outside of a major...
Highlands IE
'Mander Hunting Days
Nicci and I set out toward Station Branch, dip nets, muck boots, and packs in tow. We carefully wade out into the water, crouch down low,...
Highlands IE
Bald Beauties and Finding a Home in the Mountains
Since moving to Highlands for this program, I have found myself in the same place many times this semester: legs sore, gasping for...
Highlands IE
Being Scared And Doing It Anyway
As we barrel through October and find ourselves deep into the spooky season, I’ve been thinking a lot about fear. Not cliche,...
Highlands IE
Exploring America's Rivers Through the Lens of a Snorkel Mask
Appalachian streams are among the most bio-diverse river systems in the United States, hosting an array of fascinating fishes, mollusks,...
Highlands IE
Treasure Hunt!
“I found it!” After half an hour of fighting green briars and an incline of nearly eighty degrees I have never been so glad to see a...
Highlands IE
There Are No Square Campfires
There are no square campfires, no rectangle campfires where there’s a hierarchy of seats: a head of the table, a right-hand man, seats at...
Highlands IE
Spruce it Up
Thursday and Friday begin with a ride up to Rich Mountain - after turning onto a gravel, unnamed, old forest service road, we go up until...
Highlands IE
Sticks and Stones May Break your Bones, but EVIL Sticks and Stones will Mess Up your Seine Haul.
Entering the Whitetail Shiner project, I initially imagined easily accessible pools with an abundance of fish just waiting to jump into...
Highlands IE
"Trap Happy" (niyafriday)
Navigating college has not been an easy experience for me to say the least. It was not until my senior year that I decided I wanted to...
Highlands IE
A Semester to Remember
As I sit here writing this post in my little cottage dorm room, I can’t help but to feel a little bit sad. We have eight more days until...
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