Mark Boutilier has watched hundreds of undergraduate students leave on a ferry from the dock at Portsmouth, N.H., for Shoals Marine Lab (SML) to attend summer courses. SML, an undergraduate teaching facility on Appledore Island, six miles offshore, is administered by Cornell and the University of New Hampshire.

"Their shoulders will be rounded; they'll be looking down at their feet," said Boutilier, a SML coastal support specialist, of many students' body language as they arrive at the dock to board the ferry.

But, when they return weeks later, those same students often stand straighter, shoulders cocked back, and they now look him in the eyes. "They come off the island, and they look energized. It's almost like something has been switched on in them," Boutilier said.

The students themselves, some 150 of whom attend one or two of the 16 courses offered between Memorial Day and the third week of August, attest to the exhilaration of being immersed in intellectual activity in a beautiful environment.

Molly Smith '12, a natural resources major at Cornell, is no stranger to Shoals. She is the granddaughter of the lab's founding director, John Kingsbury, and has traveled to Appledore with her parents -- who met there decades ago -- all her life. But this summer, for the first time, she arrived on the island as a student. "Before, I was an observer but now I'm a participant, but both experiences have been invaluable," Smith said. With plans for a career in parks management, her class, Forensic Science for Wildlife Biologists, from June 28 to July 5, provided a wealth of useful knowledge, she said.

"There are so few opportunities to live in a lab," Smith said. "Here, you eat, sleep and breathe science. I have learned more in four days than I think I learned in a whole month at school. The lectures are so stimulating. I feel very lucky."

Kate Orlofsky '12, an animal science major, reflected on how her Field Ornithology class from May 31 to June 14 allowed her to see firsthand principles she read about in classes, such as territorial singing displays in sparrows and red-winged blackbirds. "I've fallen in love with birds" since taking the field ornithology class, which may lead her to specialize in studying bird behavior, she said.

Sarah Ketani '13, a biology major, arrived at Appledore in early June for a working internship before her June 28 to July 12 Ecology of Animal Behavior class. The internship provided room and board plus $8 per hour, in exchange for eight hours of work six days a week maintaining trails and classrooms. She was also exposed to the island's sustainable, conservation-minded lifestyle, which includes a wind turbine, solar panels, composting toilets and food composting. Such sustainable practices, Ketani said, are "more of a necessity here, since we live on an island." Intellectually, the ecology course has given her a "taste of the kinds of things I'd like to do," specifically the study of animals.

"I was interested in going to Shoals from the moment I heard about it, when I was applying to college," said Ketani, who hails from Brooklyn. She said the natural setting -- "just climbing around rocks looking at tidepools" -- held unique opportunities "you don't get in other places."

It is rare that a student will walk into a classroom and leave feeling his or her life has changed, said Boutilier, "but this is common for us."