Students engage in hands-on exploration of phenology by working with digitized herbarium specimens, particularly focusing on prickly pear specimens from the UTEP herbarium. They learn to identify reproductive parts of the target plant species, which serves as a practical foundation to collecting phenological data. Using this knowledge, the students collaboratively analyze images of specimens gathered from biodiversity databases and collect climate data from the Oregon State Prism Climate Explorer, examining temperature and precipitation patterns. This approach offers students real-world experience in accessing publicly available data from natural history museums to understand shifts in phenology and their ecological implications.