I Don’t Like Owls!

As an Outdoor Leadership major, I am required to complete an internship to round out my learning experience. The internship requires that I find a job in the outdoor education field, keep a journal of my experiences, and then hold a presentation about my summer in an outdoor leadership class. I chose to work at Nature Discovery Camp for Kids, a day camp in Shepherdstown, WV, which is close to my home of Myersville, MD. The camp is funded by the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (http://www.potomacaudubon.org/) and is held at the Yankauer Nature Preserve.

Having worked at this camp last summer I knew it would be a good place for me to complete my internship. So all summer long I led groups of children ages 6-10 on hikes on the 3 miles of trail at the preserve, made fun crafts related to plants and animals living in the area, and played so many games I didn’t know what to do with myself. The camp held six sessions with themes such as “Earth Artists,” “Camp Survivor,” and “Bird Brains.” The summer ended with a family camp-out on the preserve, which included a night owl prowl. We called to and listened for great horned owls, and when we heard an owl reply with “Who cooks for you?” a nervous child near the back of the line cried out, “I don’t like owls!” We ended the hike shortly after that.

I am so pleased that I’ve been given so many opportunities to work with people in the outdoors. It gives me great pride to know that I’m educating children about their natural environment at such a critical age. I have the chance to influence the next generation in a positive way and that the knowledge I pass to them might be the reason they care about the world.

Laurel

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle...

My first week back at Wilson from summer break brings mixed emotions. First and foremost, I feel at home nestled among these grand mountains. As I turned down the winding Warren Wilson Road, the Swannanoa River Valley stole my breath yet again.

However, this heart-warming homecoming also brings a new set of concerns as I adjust from a summer work schedule back to Wilson mode. As any Wilson student will tell you, time management skills are crucial on this campus. That life lesson was reinforced again this week.

My organizational proficiency was tested when I attempted to construct a schedule that accommodated not only my work and class schedule, but also allowed for me to become a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. This particular organization brings at risk youth on campus for mentoring during the week.

After modifying my classes, shifting my work schedule, and collaborating with the Service Learning Office, I realized that participating in the program would be impossible due to an interfering term class. While I am disappointed about this news, I look forward to next week’s service fair. The fair, hosted by the service-learning department, brings a plethora of organizations to campus to present various service opportunities. I am sure that I will be able to find a project that is both rewarding and feasible with my schedule.

Service Day

I guess someone in upper management read my blog about Work Day, because today I found myself in a very similar position in what I call Give A Religious Studies Major a Pitchfork (part 2).

Service Day is kind of like Work Day’s cousin that lives in the next town. While Work Day focuses on projects around campus (generally landscaping of our public spaces and trails), Service Day sends around four hundred new and returning students, faculty, staff, and miscellaneous helpers to sites in the greater Asheville community. It falls on the Friday of orientation week, and is the single most unifying event of that week. Nothing bonds you to your new friends, your new home, and even your professors quite like manual labor.

As a peer group leader this year, I am assigned to a group of fifteen freshmen, all in a first year seminar class focusing on the philosophy of Wilson’s triad. Basically I serve as their cheerleader, ringleader, campus compass, and friendly face while they try to figure out who and where they want to be for the next few years of their lives. It has been an incredibly rewarding role this past week, and so it was with great pleasure that I headed out with them, pitchfork in hand, to our site. We were working at Lake Tomahawk Park in Black Mountain, a few short miles from Wilson’s campus. We weeded endless flower beds, mulched everything that was even remotely mulchable, built picnic tables (it was surreal to see a pile of lumber in the morning transform into five fully assembled tables by the afternoon) and benches, hedged, and trimmed some bushes a nice lady on a bike asked us to trim.

Service Day this year included eight sites like ours (including several public parks, a dog park, and landscaping for a women’s correctional facility and an orphanage), tackled by a total of twenty-two freshman seminars and groups of transfer students. As with every large project that we take on as a community, I was reminded of exactly what a group of committed individuals can accomplish. With our large group and willingness to work we were able to take on tasks that would not have been possible with Black Mountain’s limited resources. My favorite part of Service Day are the smiles and gratitude of the citizens enjoying the park, proof of the positive relationship our college has with the community around us.

Michelle

Carolina Wildlife

Sometimes the things you love and care about the most can be the most frustrating bits of your life.

For me, this issue came to a head on a July day earlier this summer – the heat index in my hometown of Irmo, South Carolina was 110 that day, and I was weighing a crow. Well, making an effort to weigh a crow. My coworker was steadying a bucket on a Weight Watchers scale while I chased Maggie (the crow hero of this story) around a wooden and chicken wire enclosure. I got Maggie as far as into the bucket and we both put our hands over her, but it took only seconds for the wing flapping to tip everything (and everyone) over. Frustrated and overwhelmed, we prepared for try number two. In the back of my mind I knew that there were doves that needed to be tube-fed an hour ago, opossum bedding to be changed (for everyone’s sake), a bird that needed a wing wrap and six others on antibiotics, chimney swifts that needed to be exercised for their release the next day, someone was at the door with a new patient, and the timer was going off to feed the nestlings.

Wildlife rehabilitation rides that fine line between meaningful, important work and some of the most desperately comedic situations that you can encounter. I found myself painstakingly feeding tiny baby opossums every four hours while good ol’ boys ran them over daily, nursing turtles back to health after being weed-whacked, chasing ducks around the break room, consoling crying strangers leaving orphaned babies at our door, and raising six crows from nestlings while hunters devoted weekends to killing hundreds of their cousins. Often it felt like swimming up a waterfall, and I was starting to get bogged down in the repetition of feeding the same nestlings every thirty minutes and dealing with the same angry questions from the uninformed public.

An older coworker with lots of experience in wildlife rehab realized my frustration and gave me some advice that has slowed me down on many occasions since: Focus on the release. The crutch of your life is not in filling out paperwork, sixteen feedings of the same birds in one shift, studying for AP tests, packing boxes at a food bank, or begging peers to sign a petition. The value of any work or service is the “release” – the feeding of a hungry belly, the realization of a concept, the overturning of an unjust law, a grateful smile, and, yes, watching a bird that had no chance of survival before you took responsibility for him fly into the sunshine. Even if we can’t take back every wrong that has been inflicted on our furred, feathered, and scaled friends by the human race, the point is that someone notices, someone cares, and someone is making efforts to change the world for the better. www.carolinawildlife.org

Michelle

P.S. I am super SUPER excited to meet of our new freshmen and transfers next week! I’m a peer group leader and I’ll be around all orientation week, so I’m looking forward to saying hello to each of you!

So What’s The Problem?

So, I have a problem. I have been doing the same service project for over two years at The Presbyterian Homes for Children just down the road in Black Mountain. I have more than completed my community service requirement for graduation from Wilson. So what’s the problem? It’s a really popular service trip because we go on games night, which means I play sports with the kids. There are only five slots altogether, and between my friends and I, we have the trip completely filled. I was considering giving up my slot in favor of another service trip for a few reasons. One is that I’m going to be a senior this coming year, and I want another person to have the chance to get to know the kids before the other volunteers graduate and leave. Also, I have recently moved off-campus and was thinking of volunteering in my new community.

A few weeks ago, I went to the volunteer appreciation dinner hosted by PHFC. After watching the kids receive participation awards and seeing them be so happy to see all of the WWC volunteers, I knew that I would not be giving up the trip. Is that selfish? Possibly so. But the way I see it, we both need each other right now, and I think I can make peace with that by the time fall rolls around.

Rachel

ELC Internships

Making travel decisions can be terrifying, but it can also be very exciting. For example, Caitlin is currently reconsidering her decision to visit the town of Viejo after hearing it described in less than flattering terms. Caitlin is my suitemate, and she also works on the Admission crew with me. As we speak, she is on the computer next to me researching a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica. Caitlin is one of the many fortunate WWC students to receive an environmental internship through the Environmental Leadership Center (ELC). Interestingly, Caitlin is actually doing the exact same internship that her roommate, Heather, did last summer. While Caitlin does not yet know what environmental project she will be undertaking, Heather studied various butterfly species in Costa Rica and which of them would return to a secondary-growth forest.

In another hemisphere, my roommate, Tori, also has an internship through the ELC. She will be working for the City of Asheville, designing marketing initiatives and incentives for city employees to reduce their energy consumption and waste production. Her boss is an Aries, just like her, and I think that they will work fantastically together. Tori is already bubbling with ideas about her internship. “Like, maybe I could write down a description every time I see a ‘green’ commercial on T.V.” Tori is a Creative Writing Major, and she sees this internship as her entry into the ‘green-collar’ workforce. Tori’s dream is to write for an environmental leader, and the City of Asheville is making amazing strides in becoming more sustainable.

Both of these women, I’m sure, will have amazing summers. And me? I’ll be giving your campus tours and answering your questions all summer. But I’ll also be interning with the Asheville Lyric Opera. Not bad, eh?

Rachel

Kerala Model of Development

With only two weeks left in term four classes, my academic workload has nearly doubled. Just last week I completed two research papers. And yet, I still have three papers, a group project, and a portfolio to complete before the onset of summer break.

Of my recent projects, my favorite to work on was a paper for my comparative third world government class. In this essay I examined the Kerala Model of Development in India. To elaborate, Kerala is one of the twenty-eight states in India. In Kerala, leftist parties have been in power for a number of years and as a result, the earmarks of human development are comparable to that of the United States. In addition, Kerala has been called a model in sustainable development for third world nations. Here is an excerpt from my paper.

“Sustainable development has been defined as, “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability if future generations to meet their own need.” Govindan Parayil provides examples of just how Keralans participate in environmentally responsible practices.

Electricity in Kerala is produced exclusively from small to medium scale hydroelectric projects. Large-scale deforestation did not take place as a result of these projects. Energy for cooking comes, mostly, in the form of bioenergy, which is derived from household plots and renewable marginal forests and hills. Although the acreage of the rain forests has declined from pre-independence figures, popular campaigns to preserve the existing forests seem to be successful. It appears that the energy use and consumption pattern is stable and sustainable.”

Cait

P.S. Here is a picture of me and my best friend. Her family is from Gujarat, India.

“Second star to the right and straight on ‘till morning!”

A cast of wonderfully talented individuals, including two staff members, from Warren Wilson College performed Peter Pan this past weekend. The run of the show was Thursday through Sunday – and the Saturday night show sold out! It was the best show Kittredge Theatre has seen in many years – at least according to some. Director Charlotte Lawrence, student at Warren Wilson College, chose to direct Peter Pan as her senior project. Some had doubts about the show, but as of this weekend, all of those doubts dissipated when they saw Never Land brought to life in Kittredge Theatre.

As a member of the cast, playing Tiger Lily and Liza, I can tell you it was not easy … but I can also tell you that it was worth every minute of late nights, long fight rehearsals, and lack of energy. It is a lot of work to be in a show, but it was so rewarding. The cast had wonderful energy and a great connection – we were all so excited about the show that it turned out to be a total success! Made up of Peter’s shadow (Asha Disu) cackling as she tried to keep away from Peter, Heely shoes to make the children and Peter fly, a mermaid who attacks Wendy on Marooner’s Rock, a very talented crocodile who crawled across the stage more than once each show, fog that covered the stage, and many other very talented people bringing Never Land to life for those who came to the theatre! One of my favorite parts was the kids that came to see the show. They were all so excited, and they got scared during the right parts and excited during the right parts. It was a blast. One little boy came running up to Peter after the show and gave him a huge hug saying, “I believe, Peter! I believe!”

Charlotte Lawrence, a student here at Warren Wilson, directed the show and a wonderful job she did indeed. We presented her with a bouquet of flowers after the curtain call of the last show and several of us were crying. It was such an overwhelming success!

Theatre here at Warren Wilson is open to anyone and everyone! Students auditioned, even if they are not part of the theatre department, as did faculty and staff. David Mycoff, who played Captain Hook, is a professor at Warren Wilson, and Ian Robertson, who was the narrator, is the Dean of Work. The rest of the cast was made up of students, and a wonderful group of people it was!

Congrats to the cast and crew! I’ll miss Never Land, but it lives on in our hearts forever.

Adrianne

Work Day

There are certain things I didn’t expect to do at college. One thing that wasn’t necessarily at the top of the list, but definitely on it, was group mulching. And that happens to be something that Wilson has helped me cross off.

Work Day is an age-old tradition here at Wilson. It celebrates one prong of our Triad through a day dedicated to serving the college as a community. The day begins with reporting to your respective crew and partaking in whatever your crew supervisor has in store for you. Here in Admissions, that means we deep cleaned the office – windows, carpets, bathrooms. The entire office was buzzing with cheerful activity, and even our admissions counselors got down to the floor to help out.

At about 11:30 came what is arguably the best part of Work Day – the food. We had a real, honest-to-goodness picnic on the admissions patio, complete with eight pints of ice cream (please consider – eight pints). After eating a remarkable amount of food (we had to get our strength up for the day, you see) we set out to Gladfelter to get a group picture with all Work Day participants (including our two beautiful draft horses, all rigged up) and split into groups.
My group mostly consisted of my advanced Spanish class, which made for a bilingual mulching adventure. We had been given a huge pile of mulch, dozens of buckets, a few pitchforks, and nearly thirty people to repair the trail by the pond and meditation hut. Somehow I ended up with a pitchfork (which produced lots of jokes about religious studies majors and our trustworthiness) knee-deep in a pile of hot, damp mulch. As soon as a bucket was filled, it was thrown into an assembly line with shouts of "Cubo! Cubo!" Each bucket was tossed on the upswing, caught in the air, and effortless passed military-style until being dumped on the trail. Two layers of mulch and some invasive species removal* later, the trails were looking gorgeous.
After hours of hot, dirty work we celebrated our way to the pavilion, where we were greeted with food from our dining hall (our barbecue tofu is probably the top most reason I will never leave Wilson) and sweet bluegrass tunes, complete with dancing. Following work awards for our exceptional student workers, Work Day officially came to a close. But you can't end such a productive day with anything other than leaping off the rope swing into the pond with your friends as the sun sets over the farm. Oh, sweet work college. You give me so much.

Michelle

* A word on invasive species removal - against what I believed to be common sense, this is not, in fact, weeding. There were groups (not, mind you, effortlessly) yanking full-grown trees out of the ground to make way for native plants. Also on their list to remove were vines which I believed to be part of the actual tree before its removal. These plants are creepy.

April Showers Bring...

April showers bring May flowers! And what do May flowers bring?
College decisions!!!

It is spring and the flowers are blooming, the baby cows are romping around in the pastures of the Warren Wilson College Farm, the weather is getting warmer, and high school students around the country are trying to decide which college they want to go to in the fall! I remember the spring of my senior year of high school trying to decide between two colleges. I had been accepted at what had become my top two schools and my father was trying desperately to get me to come to Warren Wilson College. I had every intention of going to another college, but when my it came right down to it, Warren Wilson had all the things I wanted. My admission counselor at Warren Wilson answered all of my questions in more detail than I ever could have hoped for and she painted a realistic picture of Wilson, pointing out both the pros and cons. She made the decision easy for me – Warren Wilson it is! It was hard though … the application process, waiting to hear back from the colleges, being denied from some and accepted to others, then visiting colleges and picking one to attend for the next four years of my life. It was a big decision, but it was the right one and I am very happy here at Warren Wilson.

My advice for picking colleges? Listen to your parents because they usually know you better than you think and they might just have a good point or two. But – follow your instincts and go with your gut feeling. If you visit a college, no matter how much you like it on paper, and it doesn’t feel good – forget it. The college itself makes all the difference in the world. Warren Wilson felt great when I came to visit and here I am!

Good luck with all your decision!

Adrianne