Big Ideas Summary

Context:

For my Big Ideas project, I worked on environmental restoration in Tule Ponds, a local park in our community. My group members are Nate, Sachi, and Sri. We chose Tule Ponds because we want to help preserve biodiversity and make an impact in our local community. Our mentor was Dr. Blueford, a geologist in charge of maintaining Tule Ponds. She had already agreed to be our mentor prior to our interview. We had our interview with her on December 6th at around 9:30 A.M. in Tule Ponds. It was agreed that we would come every other Saturday to help out.

Part 1 (What I Did): 

Helping out turned out to be a number of things. One of the first things I did was clear away debris from the walking path; I used a rake to gather them into trash cans and dumped them into the compost bins. In addition, I cleared away invasive species and weeded, sometimes using a pair of garden scissors and other times using my hands for the particularly tough roots. I also trimmed away at lavender plants that were getting in the way of the path, and sorted out the cut parts into two categories: what could be replanted and what couldn't. I was able to sort these by looking carefully at the leaves of the plant. If it looked relatively healthy, then it could be replanted. If the leaves looked sickly or dying, then it couldn't be replanted, and I would dump them into the compost bins. I helped to pot the plants by gathering soil and packing them into small pots. I did a lot of the filming, recording various shots throughout the course of this project that we could use in the video. 

Part 2 (Reflection):

Overall, the project went really well. Because it was only a bi-weekly commitment, we didn't have too much trouble adjusting our schedules and meeting up every other Saturday. It was a labor-intensive commitment though; we would spend 2 hours (sometimes even more) actively working. However, after each meeting I left feeling like we really were making an impact. There was always so much work to do, but it was fun, especially working together with the group. My only regret was that we should've recorded more. While we did film enough to put together a good video, we didn't show off many techniques (B-rolls, wide/medium/tight shots, etc). And even though we finished the project, there's still the video to worry about. No one in our group is experienced with video editing, so i'm a little nervous as to how it'll turn out. However we're a relatively good group; we work well together and stay on task, so I doubt it'll be too much of a problem.

Part 3 (Effects): 

Dr. Blueford was definitely grateful for our help, and frequently brought cookies in appreciation. We impacted the community by beautifying Tule Ponds. In our own small way, we helped to turn Tule Ponds into a place that Fremont residents can enjoy visiting. We also helped the environment via restoration (weeding, planting, cleaning up the area, etc). In a few years our efforts will show noticeably when the plants we planted grow, the paths we cleared being sustained, and by the people that visit Tule Ponds.