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.