Fossil Boot Camp – Covid Style

Stones ‘n Bones of Fremont County traditionally presents two or three Fossil Boot Camp classes each year for school age students and adults.  With COVID, that has proven a little difficult.

On an evening in January, WIPS members Harold Taylor and Mary Chamberlain presented via Zoom to 16 Epsilon Sigma Alpha chapter members in Cañon City.  This international service group supports local reading programs, hospice groups, youth needs, and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Mary, wearing a mask, delivered a fossil kit to each participant prior to the meeting.  Harold presented, beginning with a quick tutorial on how to use a loupe and then showed the group some samples of fossils from his personal collection.  Harold then described fossils in each of the 16 sections of the fossil box while participants studied their fossil  at home with their loupes and asked questions.

For many of the chapter members, this was their first exposure to fossils.  They were thrilled to be able to handle actual fossils and ask questions.  All received a fossil with provenance to study at home and explain to their family and friends.

Most likely after COVID another more traditional Fossil Boot Camp will be on the agenda, as this program created curiosity from members that they never knew they had.