Category: Student Projects

Vic & Kokou: Concrete Jungle

by Dr. Shannon Finck

For their community partner, Concrete Jungle, Vic Faraon and Kokou Efou worked on a number of exciting and sophisticated projects with many moving parts. These projects include social media campaigns and a calendar for Concrete Jungle’s incoming South Georgia Farming Instagram page and a Farmer Profile Database, for which they conducted interviews to collect information on CJ’s partners. 

We can’t really show you much beyond this little preview, but check in with Concrete Jungle on their website and social media accounts to see some of Vic’s and Kokou’s hard work come to fruition in the near future!

Freya & Maymuna: West Atlanta Watershed Alliance

by Dr. Shannon Finck

For West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Freya Shah and Maymuna Sabree put their academic interests in law and public policy to work, creating a policy memo and canvassing to raise awareness about HB 644, a bill that ensures that serial polluters cannot move their operations to the state of Georgia to commit these violations over again. You can learn more about the bill and about their other work with WAWA here:

Troy & Liauna: Georgia Native Plant Society

by Dr. Shannon Finck

Liauna Kelly and Troy van der Beek put what they learned volunteering with Georgia Native Plant Society to work by creating recommendations for native planting around some of Georgia State University’s most visible campus buildings. Their thesis is that landscaping with native plants on GSU’s campuses signals the university’s commitment to sustainability and could influence other organizations and businesses in Atlanta to follow our example.

You can see their recommendations for Centennial Hall, where our class was held, on this site:

https://sites.google.com/view/hon3280gnpsspring25/home

Deja & Jackie: Blue Heron Nature Preserve

by Dr. Shannon Finck

 

 

Jackie Guo and Deja Burton worked with the team at Ecologic at Blue Heron Nature Preserve to learn about regenerative land management. Their final project was a brochure to educate the public about regenerative gardening and help Atlanta residents learn how they might use regenerative practices in their own yards and gardens at home.

Jackie and Deja also presented on this topic at GSU’s Undergraduate Research Conference. Here’s the information they shared with the audience at the event (plus some bonus pics of them presenting):

Kayla and Kaden: Blue Heron Nature Preserve

by Dr. Shannon Finck

Kayla Hira and Kaden Melton matched with Blue Heron Nature Preserve (BHNP) this semester. Learning from Denise Cardin and other members of the team at Blue Heron, they set up weather stations in different parts of the preserve to learn about the environmental impact of urban forests and wetlands. They also performed a survey of trees at both of their homes and GSU’s downtown campus. Learn about their project, the data they collected, and the stakes of this information below:

Grace and Diane: Wild Nest Bird Rehab

by Dr. Shannon Finck

For their community partner, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, Grace Brawn and Diane Kong created a presentation to inform the public about ways to mitigate injuries to migrating songbirds passing through Atlanta each year. Their presentation emphasizes window collisions, a major cause of bird deaths annually and an event that brought 30 Cedar Waxwings into their care this semester, only three of which were able to survive their injuries.

Sydney, Tiffany, and Mina: Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

by Dr. Shannon Finck

Sydney Erickson, Tiffany Le, and Mina Pham spent their semester volunteering with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. They cleaned out trash traps and analyzed their contents, tested the water after a major equipment failure at the RM Clayton Wastewater Treatment Facility resulted in unsafe levels of e. coli bacteria in parts of the river, and helped with events like Sweep the Hooch.

These students documented their journal on an Instagram account dedicated to the experience:

https://www.instagram.com/crk_volunteer_gsu/

They also discuss their research and findings in this accessible and engaging presentation: Service Learning Final Project