Introduction
We are the 4Glasses or 4G for short. We are a team from Penn State Berks, part of an environmental science program aimed at bettering the environment for our local community. Our team consists of three freshmen and one sophomore. Pictured left to right are Gabe Cantero, Grant Jacoby, Jaylon Alexander, and Kurt Adams. Gabriel is an international freshman at Berks. Gabriel lives in Japan but is actually from the Philippines. He is studying finance and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and skiing. Grant is a freshman, majoring in criminal justice, plays baseball, and enjoys working out. Kurt is a sophomore majoring in cybersecurity, he enjoys snowboarding, mountain biking, and working on electronics Going into this project, we all felt pretty nervous about what was ahead. Although anxious, we were ambitious to get started and make a difference locally.
Topic
We based our project on the importance of sustainability, what it is, and how it is prevalent in colleges and universities. This was the same topic as the MSU team which was helpful because we often bounced ideas and facts off each other in the weekly meetings. In the broadest sense, sustainability means the ability to maintain or support a process continuously over time. However, sustainability is not just a word as much as it is a goal. It is imperative that we use natural resources responsibly in order to support the present and future generations. Colleges and universities hold very important roles in society since they are a place where people learn to better themselves. Many people look up to these universities. Within the past few years, universities have shown more interest in the goal of sustainability. There are multiple reasons for this: Colleges are expected to be the front of changing sustainability. They have the power to influence people and doing so would create a new generation of people who care about sustainability. By introducing new ways of sustainability students can see firsthand how it can be a good thing. Social psychologists suggest that to change people’s minds on sustainability they must be introduced to a new set of values, beliefs, and norms.
Service
For our service project, we traveled to Southwest Middle School. Southwest has a lot behind its gymnasium with seven garden boxes. With the help of Mrs. Shonna Holler, we were granted the opportunity to clean out these boxes and the backlot in general to create a better environment for the students. During our first trip, a class was in the lot while we were weeding out the boxes. These students were seeing firsthand how they can be productive in their environment and be sustainable at their homes. We created planters out of plastic bottles as well. When the students go into the backlot, they can see the bottles hanging and see that they can make effective use of plastic and reuse it.
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BEFORE
AFTER
Closure
Overall, this project was a great success. We are all grateful for the opportunity to collaborate internationally and make a difference in our community. As a PSU team, we worked well together and made great friendships. In terms of collaboration with the MSU team we are very grateful for their passion towards this project and ability to meet with us on a weekly basis. We worked hard to make a difference at Southwest and hope that their students value the planters and value their environment even more.