Over the summer, a handful of students in Dahlonega were given the opportunity to immerse themselves into a real-world research environment, including oceanography, art, music and wildlife studies. North Georgia College & State University provides those opportunities through its Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities and the Faculty-Undergraduate Summer Engagement program. Through CURCA, Patrick Pickens, president of the student government association at the university, joined assistant professor Holly Carpenter Desai at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego for an eight-week research stint.