Westhampton Beach Middle School students spent a week digging for dinosaur bones as part of the school’s PALEOS program, led by teacher Rob Coleman. It was the third annual trip to private and federal lands within the Lance Creek Formation of northeastern Wyoming for this educational program. 

As part of the adventure, held June 30 through July 7, 11 students, with the assistance of researchers, learned how to collect and transport fossils from the field, prospect and find fossil remains, assemble skeletal remains, clean and repair fossils in the lab, and store and catalog fossils in museum storage areas. 

“The PALEOS student researchers had a phenomenal field experience this year,” said Coleman. “They have been ‘touched by the Badlands,’ truly appreciating the beauty and magnanimity of America’s West.”