As I stated in my previous post, my Second Year Project revolves around my involvement in the Mentor Council. There really have been no set “stages” in this project; however, I have met with many of my saplings for their interview assignment. Through those meetings, I was able to check-in with those that I had not gotten to talk to, and I had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about them. Before those meetings started, we all went on the camping trip to Hocking Hills. On the second night, during the Myers Briggs activity, I had the opportunity to learn more about my saplings and how their time at OSU had been so far. In the timeline of my project, I would say that there is no exact place I should be. I think that I should be as involved with my saplings as they want me to be. I think it is important for me to enforce the idea that I am there for my saplings if they have any issues or questions for me. However, I also think it is important for me to give them space and allow them to come to me if they need me. I have chosen this approach because it was the approach that my mentor used, and it worked for us. Yes, I do wish I had taken more advantage of having her there, but I also appreciated that she gave me space because I was already extremely busy with getting used to college and classes. I would say that my project is meeting my expectations, and I do not think that any changes need to be made in order to complete my project. Because there is no real “finishing” of my project, I think that it would be good for me to still be open and available for my saplings even after this semester is over. Overall, I would say my project is going well.

As a member of The Ohio State University’s Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) Scholars Program, I am required to complete a 2nd year project. I chose to select my role as a mentor as my 2nd year project. As a mentor, I am required to attend multiple meetings each month with the first years, attend a minimum of three events each semester, go on the Hocking Hills camping trip, review each post that my saplings write on their ePortfolios, and do my best to connect with my saplings in whatever way works best. A personal goal of mine is to connect with whichever of my saplings decide that they want me to be more of a resource in their lives. However, I do realize that not all of them will actively reach out to me for help as they may not want or need my help in this transition. One of my main hopes is that this project will positively affect both myself and others. I specifically hope that my saplings will benefit from my project through my help in their transition to college. As a mentor, I will be attending various events throughout the semester, so I hope that I can help other first years in ENR that are not my saplings if we happen to connect. As a result of helping others, I will benefit simply by knowing that I had a positive impact in the lives of others. Impacting others while getting to participate in events that have to do with outdoor adventure and the environment are the main reasons that I chose this project. Throughout the year, I hope to better learn how to connect with others — specifically my saplings — and become a resource for them. I also hope to continue to participate in more outdoor adventures while hopefully gaining some new skills.  The photo I have attached to this post is one of myself and my roommates from last year. I chose to include this photo because these women were so impactful in my life during my first year of college. They all made my first year a great experience, and I cherish the friendship that I have with each of them. I hope that this experience as a mentor helps me to be able to have such a positive impact in the first year college experience of my saplings.

As mentioned in my previous Columbus To Do List post, I chose to complete the Nature and Outdoor Adventure list. The first place I went to was the Olentangy Trail. Next, I went to the Park of Roses. Third was the Franklin Park Conservatory. Fourth, I went to the Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park. Finally, I also went to Goodale Park.

When I went to the Park of Roses in Whetstone Park, it was a beautiful day. There were a lot of people walking around, and we happened to see a large group of people playing drums and just making music. We got to walk around the garden portion of the park, and we also walked down through some of the paths in the woods. I would love to go back to the park when the flowers are actually blooming, and I would also recommend it to a friend. Below is a picture of the sign at the main entrance of the park.

I happened to go to the Franklin Park Conservatory on another beautiful day. I had the opportunity to walk around a bit and just take in the scenery. Because we went in the first entrance we saw, we did not end up getting to go to the part of the park with the butterfly sanctuary (I actually have never seen it before). This was also due to the fact that we had somewhere to go after the park, so we could not stay there for an extended period of time. As a result, I definitely intend to go back to this park in order to at least see the butterflies. Below is a picture of the sign at the entrance of the park that we went to.

The Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park was another park that I went to, and it was also a nice day. However, it was very hot. I was somewhat disappointed because we did not get to see any bison while we were there. I would also like to go back to this park because I would like to get to see the bison, and I think it would be really cool to take a friend so that he or she could see the animals and experience the park as well. Below is a picture of the park.

=

The final park that I saw was Goodale Park. I have been to Goodale a handful of times throughout the years, so it was not a new experience. Navigating there was also easy, and the weather was again nice when I went there. After staying at the park for a bit, we went to the short north and walked around some more before getting ice cream at Jeni’s. I would go back to Goodale Park as well, and I would also recommend it to a friend. Below is a picture of the park with one of the signs in the background.

My favorite experience from this project was probably when I went to the Park of Roses, but I also think that has to do with the fact that I got to spend time with a friend that I had not seen in awhile. Having lived near Columbus for my whole life, I really did not learn much of anything new about the city. The only thing that I realized was that there are so many more parks around Columbus than I ever realized. Completing this Columbus To Do List has sparked a desire in me to experience all that Columbus has to offer. This summer, I hope to try out some of the coffee shops, restaurants, and other parks that my friends and I have come across and really enjoyed going to in the process of completing these assignments. If someone else were to complete this list, I would recommend that they do it in the summer or fall semester. I say this because it was hard to spread out the parks very much when the weather was so bipolar throughout the earlier part of the semester (and even in the past few weeks!). However, I would encourage them to go to more than just five!

The fourth and final week of the Earth Month Challenge went well for the most part, but it could have gone better. This week, I added climbing the stairs instead of riding the elevator. I will admit that it was difficult to convince myself to take the stairs if it was hot outside. There was also painting going on in the stairwell on certain days, so some days the stairs were actually blocked off. I actually was walking back from class one day, and I walked up to about the seventh floor just to find a man there asking me to ride the elevator instead. As a result, I could not always use the stairs.

After updating my OROECO profile, it actually did not change any of the savings because I could not find an action tag for taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

After participating in different challenges throughout this month, I would say that my overall experience with the Earth Month Challenge went well. I liked the fact that I knew I was making a difference, even if it was a small one. Throughout this challenge, I learned that many of the things I already do in my daily life reflect the Earth-friendly lifestyle that I want to have; however, I am not perfect, and there are also many things that I do that do not reflect this lifestyle. I do plan to continue these challenges in my life outside of Earth Month. However, I will honestly probably not attempt to walk up the stairs every time I come back to Morrill. I say that just because eleven floors is a lot to walk up when the temperature outside and in the stairwell is increasing and I carry a book bag. I do plan to not use any elevators when I am in classroom buildings or anywhere else for that matter. I also plan to continue to refrain from riding the bus when I am close enough to walk, unplugging my electronics, and turning off the lights when exiting a room. I think it would be a neat experience to try another challenge area and come up with a few for myself to follow. Doing this would give me a broader idea of the things I can do in my life to make a difference. Overall, I enjoyed the Earth Month Challenge, and I thought the challenges did a great job in helping me become more aware of the things I do in my daily life that may or may not be good for the environment.

The third Earth Month Challenge Week went well for me. This week, I added the challenge of not riding the bus on campus, but rather walking (even if I was running late to class!). I managed to make it to all of my classes on time; however, it was pretty tempting to ride the bus when it was pouring outside for a couple of the days. Although, I managed to make it through the week without giving in. Once again, there really was not much to do differently with my challenges. Everything seems to be going well for the most part. Also, like the first two weeks, I did not learn much of anything other than the ideas that have continuously been reinforced since the first week.

This final week, I will be adding taking the stairs as my final challenge. I do not expect too much difficulty in this area, aside from following through with my challenge when I am in Morrill. Convincing myself to climb eleven floors of stairs rather than simply taking the elevator is going to be difficult.

After updating my OROECO profile, my current savings would now be 2, 549 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year and $410 per year. There was no option to say that I was walking rather than riding the bus; however, I checked that I was carpooling (which I did do if I needed to go somewhere that was not within walking distance) so that it would update my savings.

This second challenge week went well, too. Once again, I expected to have more trouble forgetting the challenges that I chose for myself, but I did not have much of a problem with it. As a recap, this week I added shutting off the lights when exiting a room. I also continued my challenge from the first week, which was unplugging my electronics. There really is not much I could or should do differently (so far) regarding my challenges or how to remember them better. The posters from class that hang on our room doors help quite a bit with remembering the challenges as a whole. In other words, rather than reminding me specifically what my challenge is, they help me to simply remember that I have a challenge I should be following. Once again, I did not learn much about myself aside from the same things as last week.

Next week I will continue the challenges from the first two weeks — unplugging electronics and turning the lights off when exiting a room — and I will be adding the challenge of walking everywhere instead of riding the bus (or carpooling if the destination is not on campus or within a reasonable distance). I expect this coming week’s challenge to be more difficult than the past two weeks simply because I sometimes rely on the bus to get me to class on time when I am running late for an early morning class.
After updating OROECO, I found that I would now save 600 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year and $48 per year if I were to continue turning off the lights.

My first challenge week went well! I expected to have more trouble in regards to forgetting my challenge or forgetting to make sure I unplugged my computer and such; however, I did not have much trouble in this area. The posters that we made in class proved to help quite a bit with remembering my challenge and not skipping out on following through with the challenge throughout the week. We taped these posters on our doors in our room, so every time I came home from class or just looked at the door I was reminded of my challenge. I learned that it is not very difficult for me to make simple changes such as this one in my daily life. The only issue in the past was that I never made it a priority to make this type of small change.

Next week I will be continuing the challenge from this week, and I will also add turning off lights when exiting a room (assuming no one else is in the room). I anticipate next week will probably go as well as this week went. Like the first week, the only issue should occur if I forget to turn off the lights or unplug electronics. A difference between the two weeks would be that turning off the lights will most likely occur more often than unplugging my electronics.

After updating my profile on OROECO, I found that I would save 200 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions per year and $20 per year if I were to continue unplugging electronics.

For the Earth Month Challenge, I have decided to focus on Energy and Transportation. I plan to have my challenges be cumulative, beginning  with the easiest challenge and building up to the hardest one. The first week I plan to add making sure to turn off the lights whenever I exit a room (assuming I was the last one in the room). This challenge will be difficult because I will have to constantly remember to actually turn the lights off, and I am a forgetful person. The second week I will make it a point to unplug my electronics (mainly my computer) before going to bed (so that it does not charge all night long). This one will be challenging because I generally take my computer with me to class every day and use it throughout the day. As a result, I need it to be charged all the way. I have a habit of forgetting to charge it while I am using my computer in my dorm, so I end up having to let it charge overnight. During the third week, I will walk to places on campus rather than riding the bus. This challenge will be difficult because I often end up running late for my 8am classes. As a result, it is very easy to simply catch a bus and make it to class on time. This challenge will force me to make sure that I give myself sufficient time to make it to class on time without riding the bus. Finally, for the last week, I will add taking the stairs instead of taking the elevator. This challenge will be difficult physically, as I will have to refrain from taking the elevator in any of my building. Often times, it is easy to be lazy and take the elevator, but I will have to constantly remind myself why I am taking the stairs instead of the elevator. There are no specific resources that I plan to use for any of these challenges.