Student Organizations

Students celebrate Mackay week

The Mackay Rockhounds are a group of outdoors and field-focused students from a range of majors both in and outside of the earth sciences.  Their purposed includes professional development, earth science field trips, and creating an inclusive social experience for students interested in the earth sciences.  They are involved in community service, fund-raising and exploring professional options related to their interests, including visits to  mines, assay labs, rockhounding sites and inspiring other students to join in their passion for rocks and minerals.

Students in full dress for geology



The Mackay Rockhounds Club, along with the Mackay Women's International Intercollegiate Mining Team and the John Mackay Club, hosted several on-campus activities during UNR’s Mackay week celebration, including giving UNR students and faculty a chance to try their hand at Swede-sawing, gold panning, blackjack, and even an old-west-themed dance featuring a live blue grass band. The Mackay Rockhounds (an AIPG-sponsored student group) had a number of professional speakers and took several field trips this year. The highly anticipated trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park was an immense success after many months of stressing and getting everything prepared. The trip took place from October 10th thru 12th. Friday afternoon was spent travelling from a snowy Reno up to a very cold and wintery Manzanita Lake Campground. The evenings were spent around the campfire with UC Davis, Sonoma State, and Chico State students that had also come to Lassen. On day two, we hiked to the summit of Lassen Peak. The temperatures at the summit dropped to a balmy 2oF including windchill. There were no injuries on the hike despite many ice slopes and areas were the trail was little more than a foot wide. Despite the steep climb and the wintery conditions nearly all of us made it to the summit. After the climb, we visited Bumpass Hell (the major geothermal attraction in the park), and the brand new Visitor’s Center. On the last day the club toured the subway caves (a system of magma tubes). Afterward we headed south through the park to return back to Reno.

Students camping2009-2010 Officers

  • Nicholas Steele, Geology, President
  • Kelsey Sherrard, Geology, VP
  • Patricia Capistrant, Geology, Secretary
  • Molly Hunsaker, Geology, Treasurer