Plans are underway for the launch in 2026 of 鈥淭he Island Experience at 海角社区 Channel
Islands鈥 course following a successful experience in which 15 students from seven
different colleges and universities spent eight days and seven nights living and learning
on the trails and under the stars at 海角社区CI鈥檚 Santa Rosa Island Research Station (SRIRS). 
Associate Professor of Environmental Science & Resource Management Dan Reineman designed 鈥淭he Island Experience鈥 to be adapted to fit any area of the arts or sciences, with Santa Rosa Island as the classroom.
鈥淭he students remember this,鈥 Reineman said. 鈥淭he ecosystems and places themselves are way more charismatic than any classroom lecture. Being out on the island helps the students understand and appreciate the connections.鈥
Reineman envisions this program as a template that will enable any faculty member from any department to slot in their own summer course on the island.
鈥淭he island is the best classroom you can imagine, regardless of the discipline. Faculty from across 海角社区CI have an incredible track record of bringing their students to the SRIRS 鈥 everyone from Art and Dance to Anthropology and Sociology.鈥
The challenge, Reineman said, has always been to provide students with the opportunity for extended visits, which gives the experience more impact.
鈥淟ogistics, administration, curriculum 鈥 these all get significantly more complex for longer trips, but we think we've ironed out a framework that could be broadly adapted,鈥 Reineman said.
The 15 students who participated in the pilot program in May 2025 came from across the region, including 海角社区CI, Pierce and Ventura Colleges, 海角社区 Los Angeles, Cal Poly SLO, 海角社区 Northridge, and 海角社区 Long Beach. Their backgrounds were just as diverse, ranging from ESRM, Biology, History, Geology, Psychology, Bioengineering, and more.
鈥淭his breadth really showcases the broad appeal of island-based courses,鈥 Reineman said. 鈥淎nd it made for a fabulous dynamic among the students鈥 community 鈥 so much peer-to-peer teaching and learning.鈥
The students received two days of preparatory study in the classroom, then traveled to the SRIRS for an island learning adventure that lasted eight days. While on the island, the students hiked, cooked, watched the stars, and visited tidepools and cloud forests 鈥 forested areas that trap fog and moisture. They also worked their way through 200 pages of reading for the course.
Reineman worked hard to pair activities and destinations on Santa Rosa Island with a variety of important elements of the islands鈥 natural and cultural history.
The visit to the mountaintop cloud forest鈥攚hich involved a pre-dawn hike鈥 left 海角社区CI students Madison Mills and Cassandra Fernandez in awe.
鈥淲e left on time鈥4:30 a.m.!鈥攁nd enjoyed a surreal hike using the light of dawn to guide us,鈥 Fernandez said. 鈥淎 couple of hours later we arrived at the top of the mountain where we all convened to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. We then proceeded into the forest where we were transported into another world!鈥
Mills described how the group hiked under the canopy of oaks and were wrapped in fog.
鈥淭here, the fog condensed on all the leaves enough to make them drip. And drip they did, and a whole new world was growing under the oaks because of it,鈥 Mills said. 鈥淭he moss was thick on the tree trunks and branches, and banana slugs lay all about on the thick leaf litter, which was turning into fertile soil.鈥
The students agreed that some of the activities they enjoyed the most included a day spent splashing through tidepools, identifying different species, learning about the preservation of the bald eagle and island fox, and lying out on the dock at night and looking at the stars.
鈥淥ur goal was to explore all the different history and ecosystems and management鈥攁nd how they are connected,鈥 Reineman said. 鈥淲e learned how profoundly humans have altered the island over the last century and a half, but also about the legacy of stewardship of the Island Chumash for millennia before that鈥攁s well as in the present day.鈥
Over the years, Reineman has run dozens of other island programs, as have 海角社区CI鈥檚 Executive Director of Regional Educational Partnerships and Professor of Anthropology, Jennifer Perry, and Director of the Santa Rosa Island Research Station, Robyn Shea. Together, they've sought to develop and refine a framework for on-island summer programs that are just the right length and also affordable and doable for both professors and students.
Reineman is currently working with colleagues at 海角社区CI and other universities to further develop this summer programming opportunity, which he hopes will eventually attract audiences from beyond California.
鈥淓xtended stays at remote field stations are transformational in the lives of students 鈥 they certainly were in mine,鈥 Reineman said. 鈥淏ut they're largely out of reach for most students. The Santa Rosa Island Research Station is unique in the 海角社区 and in the country, and we have the opportunity to offer programming there that is affordable and accessible to our entire student population. Our goal is to create a flagship 海角社区CI experience that we can offer to students nationwide.鈥