Category: Introductions

Introduction: Raihaanah Bint Abdullah Muslim

by rmuslim1

Hello everyone!

I’m Raihaanah, a senior biology major and a research assistant here at GSU. I became interested in research after completing my associate’s and transferring to the downtown campus. I was initially interested in cancer research, but I was paired with a principal investigator in the neuroscience institute and became fascinated with neurodegenerative diseases. I hope to graduate this semester and enroll in graduate school within a year. I’m both excited and nervous about graduating because I’m taking a gap year.

This semester is interesting to say the least. I’ve never been in a service learning course before, but I have volunteered through GSU and other organizations. This class is nice because I get course credit for volunteering.

I’m excited to share that I’ve been partnered with the Dunwoody Nature Center! I’m super eager to learn about their programs and help them run them. The Dunwoody Nature Center focuses on conservation and has many educational programs that inspire the community to be stewards of the natural world. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing there. Based on their survey responses and emails with Holly, I think I’ll help them run their educational programs, gardening, animal care, social media posts, and organizing materials.

The Dunwoody Nature Center is approximately 30 minutes from my house, which isn’t bad. It’s a little inconvenient because it’s in the opposite direction of campus, so I may not be able to make it to lab on my volunteer days. The most concerning thing is that I won’t be able to start volunteering until the week of March 11th, so I’m not sure how I’ll satisfy all the required hours or come up with a project proposal before the GSURC abstract deadline passes. Nonetheless, this is an exciting experience and I hope it’ll be a highlight of my undergraduate career!

Introduction: Sydney Erickson

by serickson11

Howdy! 

My name is Sydney Erickson and I am a first-year finance major here at GSU. I am excited to have the opportunity to be enrolled in Honors 3280: Service-Learning Seminar in Urban Ecology and Environmental Conservation this semester with Dr. Finck. My main reason for choosing this course was that I found the idea of being able to give back to my community while earning college credit an incredibly good use of my time. I must admit that I did not expect to have that the opportunity to learn and read as much as we had in the first part of this semester, but after having done so, I am incredibly grateful that we did. I feel that I was able to refine some of my own personal opinions through reading the opinions of McKibben and Purdy as well as gain whole new perspectives on major problems I was unaware so many were impacted by (i.e. superfunds as discussed by Kathryn Savage). A multitude of the readings we discussed in class emphasized how the existence of nature and humans play off of each other, and although I had a baseline understanding of this concept, I had never taken the proper time to discuss what it truly meant and how that therefore impacts my day-to-day life. 

For this semester, I will be working with the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, which is something I am quite excited about! The interaction I have had with Jordan Yu (Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Watershed Protection Specialist) has been somewhat limited due to him taking part in Water Professionals event but what I have gathered from our discussions is that it seems that my work will fall in line with litter cleanup and analysis, water sampling, pollution tracking, speaking events, workshops, or social media. I have spent multiple years volunteering for Rivers Alive (a river clean up organization) and because of this I know that I have a great deal of interest when it comes to rivers and waterways in Georgia, which is why this organization stood out to me in the first place. Another reason I am so excited to work with this organization is because of their activism. When comparing McKibben and Purdy, I felt my viewpoints aligned more so with Purdy’s view on how impactful laws are when it comes to preservation, so it I was beyond thrilled when I saw on Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s website that they take special interest in advocating for bills that would protect our waters. Alongside this, they also emphasize the importance educating and investing in those same waters, which just adds to how wonderful this organization seems and makes me fueled with excitement to be able to contribute with my time and final project. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work for them and I look forward to what is to come this semester! 

Good luck everyone!

Introduction: Sheryl Varghese

by svarghese5

Hello! My name is Sheryl and I am a second-year chemistry major.  I am in this course because I have not volunteered in many events since I started college, and this course would allow me to start volunteering again, especially in a field that I have not participated in before. This course has been more educative on the environment than I first thought it would be. I got to read some books that gave interesting insights on climate change.  I learned about superfunds by reading Kathryn Glass’s Savage. Also discussing with my classmates their perspectives on what the authors are saying is fun. These conversations can be carried on in our future conversations with people outside of this class, even if our professions might differ. 

I am especially looking forward to volunteering with GNPS. It is exciting to look at the variety of opportunities that the organization has to offer for volunteers. While I have only had one meeting to introduce myself, I learned a lot from that meeting about GNPS. Their goal is to bring back the native plant life of Georgia, by removing invasive species, planting native plants, and also educating people on the different categories of plant life that exist. While we have not begun volunteering yet, the survey responses from GNPS already provided ideas on what my classmate and I can do for our project. One of these is updating the organization’s website with information on native plant life. I find this to be a worthwhile project to undertake as it is always fun to help teach people something new but this will also help me learn about native plant life. Sidenote, but I also have a backyard that I have been wanting to add plants to to make it lively. I hope that volunteering with this organization will help me learn about plant choices I should make when looking for seeds. For example, something that I learned in my first meeting with GNPS was that many stores do not sell native plants. Sometimes people working at those places do not know what native plants Georgia has. I hope to be able to educate myself about what to look for when looking for plants for my backyard.

Looking forward to the rest of this semester!

Introduction: Kelly Clarke

by kclarke22

Hi everyone! I am Kelly Clarke, a junior majoring in Finance at Georgia State University. I am enrolled in GSU Spring 2024 Honors 3280: Service-Learning Seminar in Urban Ecology and Environmental Conservation. This course has served as an eye-opening service seminar to highlight the importance of being a good citizen in the economy and discusses topics of being an active member to help preserve environmental issues. So far, we have identified different texts from McKibben, Purdy, Kathryn Savage, and Krimmer who explained their views on the topic of nature. Each environmentalist emphasized their relationship to society. 

I am excited to volunteer with the Georgia Native Plant Society and the Intown Atlanta Chapter. Our organization focuses on the preservation of native plants and their habitats. They help support economic prosperity and the quality of life for different plant species across Georgia. Through each of our volunteering experiences, we will focus on identifying unhealthy plant species and providing nutrients to help support longer plant life. This will include walking around natural habitats and looking at how the environment hurts or helps each species. I am looking forward to working with the other volunteers and my classmate Sheryl! Good luck everyone with your community partners!! 

Introduction: Kaden Melton

by kmelton6

My name is Kaden Melton and I’m a sophomore majoring in finance. I selected this course because I enjoy doing volunteer service and wanted to be more involved, so I thought taking a class designed to do volunteer service was an ideal situation for me. So far in the class, I have become a lot more aware of the impacts of pollution outside of its negative impacts on the planet. I learned that the damage done to the environment is a lot more intertwined with the harm done to other people who live alongside the impacted natural spaces than I originally considered. The harm inflicted on these individuals can last longer than the individuals originally impacted, and health impairments can become hereditary traits passed down for generations, even if the future generations are far removed from the polluted environment in which their parent or grandparent originally inhabited. 

After reading the different literature this semester, I am even more excited to begin my volunteer work. The organization that I’ve been assigned to work with is the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. The Blue Heron Nature Preserve is an organization that is dedicated to maintaining the 30 acres of natural habitat under their care, which includes meadows, woodlands, wetlands, riparian, and all the organisms involved in the ecosystem. I was interested in joining this organization because their efforts concentrate on physically interacting with nature and the land and that is an aspect of volunteer work that I highly value. I want to be in intimate contact with the community that I’m serving, essentially I want to get my hands dirty. Through this volunteer experience, I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the different ecosystems at the preserve and walk away with a more profound appreciation for nature and all that it has to offer and experience. 

Introduction: Diane Kong

by dkong3

Greetings everyone, I am Diane Kong, pursuing a Biology major with a premed concentration. My decision to enroll in this course stemmed from its focus on community service within the urban environment, which was something I had been interested in but never had the opportunity to delve into. This honors course promised a unique opportunity to explore the intersections of nature and community engagement. As I immerse myself in the material, I am uncovering the intricate nuances of nature that often go overlooked. From the interconnectedness of ecosystems to the delicate urban biodiversity, I am realizing the depth and complexity of the natural world.

I am thrilled to collaborate with Wild Nest Bird Rehab, a vital organization dedicated to bird welfare. I was interested in working with Wild Nest because of my deep love for birds, particularly hummingbirds, and the sadness I feel seeing them fall victim to human activities. Wild Nest’s commitment to treating 1,500 birds annually, educating the local community, and advocating for approaches to reduce bird deaths and injuries is truly inspiring. Through my engagement with Wild Nest, I’ve learned the staggering statistic that billions of birds perish each year due to habitat loss, free-roaming cats, building collisions, and other causes. I am eager to contribute to projects aimed at directly assisting birds, whether through treatment or feeding. Moreover, I hope to learn invaluable skills during my service assignments, such as bird weighing, medication administration, and tube feeding, all under the guidance of licensed professionals. I believe that by working with Wild Nest, I can make a meaningful difference in the lives of birds while growing personally and professionally.

Introduction: Dua Spall

by dspall1

Hi everyone! My name is Dua Spall. I’m a junior at GSU studying computer science. I chose this course because I wanted to try something outside the realms of technology and connect with nature more while also helping the community. So far, there have been many interesting things that I’ve learned through this course, mostly through the different books that we have read and discussed. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned through the books and apply it to where I’ll be doing community service. Throughout our meetings in class, we have discussed different texts from McKibben, Purdy, and Kathryn Savage. All of these authors have discussed their experiences with nature and how they are connected to it in their own words. I believe these readings are extremely important in allowing us as the readers/students to inspire us to connect with nature through our acts of service we will be doing. Before I read the works from these authors, I never gave much thought to how I can connect with nature personally and what I can specifically do to give back to it. After these readings, especially with Krimmer, I have learned there is a lot someone can do to give back to the earth to grow as we grow alongside it.

My community partner for this course will be the Dunwoody Nature Center. I’m really excited to work with them as they offer many different choices in what you can volunteer in, such as working with animals, doing cleanups, or working with kids. All together, I’m hoping to learn what it truly means to connect ourselves with nature while also learning new things that we can pass on to other people. I hope my experiences at Dunwoody Nature Center help and inspire me to keep giving back even when the course is finished. I recently had my first meeting with them and was welcomed to a very comfortable, calming, and scenic environment. Throughout our readings, we touched on how we as students go to a university in an area where nature isn’t entirely prevalent around us. We’re surrounded by big buildings and noises from cars which leaves us less opportunity to connect with nature. When I arrived at Dunwoody Nature Center, it was extremely quiet, and the only thing you could hear was birds or the sounds of squirrels climbing up trees. This is completely different from what students are used to, so I’m extremely excited to get the chance to connect with nature while also giving back to the community and earth.

Introduction: Mina Pham

by mpham29

Hi everyone, I am Mina Pham. I am a junior at Georgia State University, majoring in Chemistry. For spring 2024, I am currently enrolled in Honors 3280: Service-Learning Seminar in Urban Ecology and Environmental Conservation by Dr. Shannon Finck. I have volunteered for a non-profit organization called Open Hand for the past year. It was my first time doing volunteer work in environmental conservation. I am thrilled to get some hands-on experience and learn more about our nature. Since the beginning of the semester, I have been introduced to different readings to have a prepared mindset before getting into the field. The readings demonstrate that the nature we live in nowadays is also concerning. There should be some changes that we have to make now before things get even worse. Now, it is an opportunity to serve and give back to the community.

Water is essential to all living beings. I, personally, like to be submerged in fresh water. Unfortunately, our water resources are heavily polluted due to many factors: oil spillage from industries, sewage from factories, trash thrown into rivers by humans, etc. I grew up in a developing country where clean water might not be available to every household. People might also not even be able to afford water. So, I appreciate the water that I get access to. My community partner match is Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. I want to use this opportunity to serve the community by helping clean parts of the Chattahoochee River, which supplies 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s drinking water. Therefore, I am eager to learn more about cleaning our water source from Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. I have discovered that Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is known for employing “trash traps” to remove floating litter from urban streams. These devices catch floating garbage from stormwater runoff, and our 14 trash traps have collected more than 10,000 pounds of floating trash since 2019. Multiple activities are offered, such as litter cleanup and analysis, water sampling, pollution tracking, speaking events, workshops, and social media. I am excited about taking samples of water and putting them under analysis. From this service assignment, I look forward to building more profound knowledge about protecting our water sources and water sampling. 

Introduction: Grace Brawn

by gbrawn1

Hi! My name is Grace Brawn and I am a Biomedical Science and Enterprise major and am minoring in Biology. I selected this course because I have wanted to become more active in the community, but did not know where to even start. In this course we have talked about what nature is, which is much more difficult to define than you might think, why nature is important, and how humans affect nature. We have been thinking about how our actions impact nature and what we need to do and change to create a better future for the world. We have been looking at different perspectives on nature and how our perspective impacts our relationship with nature. 

The community partner I am going to be working with is Wild Nest Bird Rehabilitation. Wild Nest rehabilitates injured and orphaned native birds and releases them back into the wild. The work they do is very important as thousands of birds are injured throughout the Atlanta and Decatur area annually. These birds are injured through human actions, such as cars, lawnmowers, cat or dog attacks, barbed wire fences, or road work, as well as non-human forces as well such as baby birds falling from their nest during a bad storm. While treating bird injuries may seem relatively simple, it is much more complex than people realize. This community partner does not just “fix” the injury, they fully rehabilitate these birds, mostly songbirds, so they can go into or back to the wild successfully. Wild Nest has trained and licensed individuals who care for these injured, orphaned, displaced, and/or distressed birds.  They have different designated areas to care for baby birds, juvenile birds, and adult birds. Their facility also includes two large outdoor aviaries for birds to grow their flying muscles and strength to increase their chances of survival once they are released. To care for so many different species of birds they have many different types of foods to properly nourish these birds that have such different diets. While Wild Nest does not rehabilitate all species of birds they can act as a temporary facility and care for other species of birds and direct these birds to a facility that is more properly equipped and that possibly specializes in the rehabilitation of these other species. I witnessed this at my orientation when a wood duck was brought in with puncture wounds. Wild Nest does not usually treat ducks, but they can evaluate them, start the general treatment process, and find a more properly suited rehabilitation facility to transport them to.

I am interested in this community partner as I have always loved animals. My grandpa and I used to watch birds and I have always wanted to learn more about them.  I am looking forward to helping with the rehabilitation of the birds. As someone interested in medicine, I believe it would be very interesting and beneficial to learn about the anatomy and physiology of birds. I also hope to learn more about how to keep the birds that live in our cities safe and healthy. I am hoping to do a project that benefits this organization and furthers its work. I feel that community outreach and educating the public is of major importance for this organization and hope we can create a project that helps fill this need. I also want to overall raise awareness of what they do, especially since they run exclusively on volunteers. I am sure there are other goals Wild Nest Bird Rehabilitation will have as well and am looking forward to learning and creating possible options for these goals. I hope to learn not only how to help birds, but how to help the nature that we do still have in our cities. 

Introduction: Kayla Hira

by khira1
 Hello! My name is Kayla Hira, and I am a second-year student here at Georgia State University. I have a major in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Environmental Science and a minor in Biological Sciences. I chose this course “Urban Ecology and Environmental Conservation” because I wanted to learn more about my passion and major with the benefit of helping small communities and organizations with conserving the planet. I also wanted to volunteer because I wanted to see a difference in the communities around our city in the ways that they help our earth and spread knowledge on how others can help natural spaces as well. From the class, we have been reading excerpts and learning about what it means in the sense of natural lands, and how various places and perspectives came forth in conserving and defining what nature is. Many of the excerpts shed knowledge on their concepts of what is natural and what is inorganic and had their own experiences with places that are less fortunate to be conserved to push for a recognition of conservation and environmental help.  
 
The community partner I was matched with was the Blue Heron Nature Preserve, a 30-acre area of nature with various Environmental situations in woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and riparian. Thier aim is to engage people about the environments and natural habitats, protect/preserve the habitats and their heritages, provide a natural lab for various education and research, and advocate for preservation for urban communities. Some of the volunteer work I am excited about, particularly the Tree Survey and knowledge about carbon footprints in our area. Learning about meadows and how they are such an integral part of fighting climate change and being able to plant some native species and learn about meadows (prairies) is something I would like to expand on because I have always been interested in planting and cultivating flowers and small plants. Their ability to fit four different habitats for native plants and animal communities is something I wanted out of my community partner, because I wanted to get a full grasp of all aspects of environmental conservation, and the Blue Heron Nature Preserve reflects that. I also want to find out how different environments in Georgia impacted the natural parts and ecology of the state and how I can further impact people and have the knowledge to make a difference in environmental change. 
 

Citation-“The Nature Preserve.” Blue Heron Nature Preserve, August 25, 2022. https://bhnp.org/about/the-preserve/.