The K-State Geology Department has two student clubs. Sigma Gamma Epsilon is a national geology honorary society with chapters at many universities. Williston Geology Club is a local organization with a more social agenda. Both clubs perform public service, ranging from environmental cleanups to conducting tours for public schoolchildren. Both also serve to enhance the K-State educational experience, such as by sponsoring seminar speakers and arranging field excursions. And of course, there are various social events as well. Many students are members of both groups.

An important factor in the way our students and faculty work together is that we also 'let our hair down' together. We start out each academic year with a pizza luncheon in Thompson Hall, and have a picnic a few weeks later. Then there are various informal parties and open houses throughout the year, the Advisory Council Social Hour and Banquet, and the annual Spring Banquet. Overall, we manage to meet at a social level about once a month, and more if you count dinners with the seminar speakers. No one takes attendance at these affairs, but we recommend them. Not only can you enjoy yourself, but you can develop the networking skills that can make a great difference in your career.

The Geology Department sponsors at least one major field trip each year, to places like Death Valley, the Mojave Desert, the Black Hills, and the volcanic fields of New Mexico and Arizona. Shorter trips are sometimes organized by one or both of the student clubs, and day trips are a normal part of many regular courses. We encourage students to go on as many of these as possible, and thanks to alumni support, many students have a large part of their expenses subsidized. After all, geology is the study of the earth, and even though Kansas is the center of things, the earth 'sticks out' beyond it.

Kanopolis Reservoir, Kansas. The shales here contain cone-in-cone concretions, well-formed gypsum crystals, and partially pyritized fossils.