The internships Bailey Kennedy experienced as a U of I undergraduate geology student left a lasting imprint.
One first-day impression in particular she won’t forget.
“We were in the Silver Valley doing rock chip sampling for a mine and within the first five minutes I slipped and fell and lost my radio,” Kennedy said. “The mountains are very steep and can be unforgiving. I fell face first and into a big log.”
The episode was a bit painful, slightly embarrassing and a wakeup call.
“It was a great learning day,” said Kennedy, a Lakeland High School graduate who will earn a bachelor’s in Geology in December 2026.
Kennedy took advantage of several internships as well as two geology field camps taught by Professor Jerry Fairley, where, among other necessary skills, she learned how to make geological maps based on rock formations, topography and terrain features in a swath of southern Utah.
“The field camp experience was really great because everything was hands-on and we got to put into practice all the things we had learned in class,” she said.
Kennedy’s introduction to geology came as a middle school student when her class visited a tourist mine shaft in the Silver Valley and students were shown an underworld of tunnels, glistening stone fragments, rock veins and hard hats with lights on them.
“I think I just really liked the rocks because they were so pretty, but also it was like, here was this world I didn’t know existed,” she said.
After completing dual credit courses through North Idaho College, the senior enrolled at U of I to focus on geology.
The smaller class sizes, experiential learning and ample one-on-one time with professors have helped shape her career, she said.
“They really try to get you into doing real geology work to show what it's actually like on the job in the field, which is pretty neat,” she said.
During field work internships she collected rock chips and dirt samples in remote haunts in Idaho and Oregon for a Coeur d’Alene mining exploration company. They have been some of her most memorable college experiences.
The geology program at the University of Idaho has definitely set me up for success.
Bailey Kennedy
Undergraduate in geology
“It was a lot of amazing tent camping,” Kennedy said.
In the mountains around Stanley, her small crew of seven to 10 members drove ATVs as close to the mountain top as they could get, then grabbed their rucksacks and climbed to an area that was a grid on a map, called a “line,” where they collected rock chip samples by digging holes in the ground and removing debris. The samples were sealed in canvas bags to be assayed at a later time. An assay determines what minerals are in the rocks.
“By the end of the day we would fill up our packsacks and head back down to camp,” she said. “It was hard work, but you get to be in places where very few people ever go. And the vistas are so beautiful.
On one of the days in Stanley, I just finished my line and the sun was setting, and the whole valley was lit up with orange and pink. It was gorgeous.”
Kennedy spent most of last summer in a mining company core shed in the Silver Valley as part of a paid internship.
“I observed the Lucky Friday lithologic units as well as learned how to properly log core,” she said.
Logging core entails studying and writing down a detailed record of a long tube of rock that has been drilled out of the ground.
“I also had the opportunity to go underground and assist the geology team while learning a mapping style as well as local rock structures,” she said. “The Silver Valley rock formations are geologically complicated because they are all faulted and squished and messed up. We learned to match the veins from one unit to the next.”
After graduation, Kennedy plans to apply for jobs in Alaska, Nevada and Montana, as well as Idaho, but first she plans to set aside a semester to study for a rigorous licensing exam by the National Association of State Boards of Geology. Each year U of I’s Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences has fundraisers to help students pay for the exam in spring.
“All of my internship experiences and field courses have strengthened my interest in mining geology and resource development,” Kennedy said. “The geology program at the University of Idaho has definitely set me up for success.”