Month: April 2017

Year in Review 2016-2017

This photo was taken at the ENR camping trip last year. The choice I made to join ENR has really impacted my life in this short year. This picture is important to me because it was of me with some new friends I made in ENR. I made new friends who I most likely would not have met if I didn’t participate in ENR .Those friends also have taught me a lot about the world they come from that I was not aware of and they also helped me learn about myself. ENR has also helped me get in touch with nature in ways that I hadn’t before. It also has inspired me to live more sustainably by recycling more and composting.

This picture of me playing my baritone ukulele in my common room. The opportunity collage gave me to begin learning and doing things that I want to do is what makes this photo special. I love music and I want to learn as many musical instruments as I can. This photo is important to me because it represents my choice to go after that goal and achieve it. It also represents my decision to live more for myself and do what I need to make my life full.

This photo was taken at the 2017 North Central District Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi Convention. I chose at the beginning of the year to rush Tau Beta Sigma and I have not regretted my decision once. TBS has given the opportunity to meet so many amazing and talented people. I’ve made so many friends in both Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi who have made my first year at OSU memorable. TBS also is teaching me to be a better leader and to contribute to the community to make a positive impact wherever I can through service.

This photo was taken at the 2017 Spring Game where I got to perform a pregame and half time show with the Athletic Band. This picture represents the decision I made to continue making music and entertaining through it. Athletic Band has given me so many opportunities to participate in unique experiences like performing Script Ohio on Ice and the Elvis show at Spring Game. I’ve met some wonderful people and formed friendships with some members of Athletic Band. I’m very glad I made the decision to join also because I’m continuing to live my passion of music making. Band has also taught me in the past as well as the present to do what I can to contribute to the group and work with others to put out something amazing in the world.

This picture was taken at a small learning event in Morrill tower featuring a doctor of etymology who spoke about beekeeping and the importance of pollinators. This event was not part of my Earth Action month plan, but I chose to attend because the action plan introduced me to the issue of pollinator endangerment and I’ve become very passionate about this issue. This picture represents my new found interest in bees and my desire to learn more about what I can do to help make a positive impact on bee endangerment.

Earth Month Action Plan

For Earth Action I plan to do four different actions each week. For the first week I will attend a panel discussion about the importance of pollinators. The members of the panel will include beekeepers, professors, and more. What may be difficult with this action is fully understanding the scientific knowledge about bees and other pollinators. I intend to use the panel as a resource and ask questions about anything they discuss that I may not really understand. The second week I plan to plant a bee garden at my home back in Marysville. This bee garden will include flowers that attract bees and help them collect pollen to make their honey. What may be difficult with this action is making time to go back home and plant the garden. I will utilize my parents or other family members to help drive me home and back to campus. On the third week I will participate in the March for Science on Earth Day and make a sign that draws attention to the issue of declining bee populations. What may be difficult here is making the sign but I intend to use Target as a resources and my friends’ help to create a good sign. The fourth and final week I plan to visit my family friend, Katrina, and her bee farm. This will give me the opportunity to see bees in action and more fully understand their importance. The difficulty here would be travelling to her bee farm, but as always I can use my parents to bring me to her farm.

Mid-Action Plan Check In

The first two weeks of Earth Action Month went well. I had to change my first action to “Advertising for the We Can Bee Better” but other than that my first weeks were very good. The first action was simple and I didn’t learn much from it except that I didn’t know that we had professors who specifically taught about bees and other pollinators. I learned this from the event post that I shared to The Ohio State University Environment and Natural Resources Scholars Facebook page. What was cool was one of my Facebook friends, who was not in ENR, saw my post and shared it to her friend who works with bees at her husband’s bee farm. The second action that I did for Earth Action month was attending the “We Can Bee Better” panel discussion. I really learned a lot from attending this event. The panel that consisted of a staff member from Chadwick Arboretum, a Professor of Etymology, a professional Beekeeper, and an owner of the Brothers Drake Meadery. I learned from these wonderful panelists interesting information about bees that I didn’t know before. Some of the things I learned were for example: the honey bee is from Europe, honey can be made into wine (mead), we consume twice the amount of honey we produce in America, starchy vegetables like corn and potatoes don’t need pollinators, there are about 400 bee species in Ohio, beekeepers lose about 45% of their colonies each year, the number of registered beehives dropped from 45,000 down to 15,000 in about twenty years, etc.  I also learned that I really enjoy learning about bees! During the entire panel discussion I was wanting to learn more about pollinators and I was very engaged in their presentations and discussions. I think I want to take the professor’s class on beekeeping (Etymology 2200 I believe it was) as well. I think for future actions I will prepare more in advance to make sure that I’m ready to do the action. My last two actions will be more involved and will need some coordination to make them work. Next week I will go back home for a day and plant a bee garden with the help of my parents. The last action I will take will be attending the March for Science on Earth Day. I have already prepared a bee-related sign that I will carry with me during the march! I’m very excited to continue my actions and further advocate for bee awareness!