Category Archives: Fall 2022 Project Teams

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The Goofy Goober’s providing goofy green services

  By lea5216 • December 7, 2022 , , ,

Research:

For our research, we decided to look at the issue of Food Waste Impact on Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases at the State level. We identified that the transportation and disposal of food are primary issues that lead to higher levels of greenhouse gases. All levels of our food chain from primary production to the consumer are flawed with differentiating levels of food waste resulting in carbon emissions. Transportation and landfills are the largest percentages of food waste state-wide. As a team, we were able to investigate and discover possible solutions to this environmental issue. Please view our presentation to learn more

 

Service:

We intended to perform community service for Glenside Elementary School. However, due to some complications, the project was switched to SouthWest Middle School in Reading PA. The service we provided took place in the school’s courtyard. There they had garden beds and potted plants for students to learn about nature and take part in activities. Our time was dedicated to cleaning up and adding new features to the courtyard. This was to help enable the students to have a better learning environment. It was dirty work but we felt it was worth the cause as in order to spread awareness for environmental science. We need to provide greater influence to the younger generations.

 

Summary/ Reflection:

The EACAP project was an eye-opening experience.  Not only does this project allow students to work as a team, but we also get the privilege to collaborate with schools from other countries.  PSU Berks partnered with MSU to create new experiences, but to also use our skills of teamwork, time management, communication skills, etc. to complete this project.  Alongside working with the MSU team from Russia, we got to help our community by giving our services to them.  We partnered with Southwest Middle School, located in the city of Reading.  As a team, we were excited to see the progress we’d been making every time we went to the school to help them with their garden.  Out in the courtyard where the garden is located, there were tasks of cleaning the flowerbeds and putting in new, clean soil for the summer so new flowers and other plants can successfully grow.  Leaves, rocks, and other unnecessary rubbish were piled up to then be thrown away.  We were fulfilled to know that we helped in some way.  We realized our duties took some stress off the janitors when we cleaned outside the school to make it look presentable, but we also made it fun and educational for the children to look at something they can take pride in because it is a part of their school.  

In this, our team gained knowledge of what it’s like to be tasked with something so rewarding.  Community service is time-filling, but it is something to take pride in.  Our team had a great time in the garden and making it look presentable.  Gardening is a lot of work and it does take a lot of teamwork for some things to get done, which is why this project was so appreciable for us as a team.  

Collaborating with a team from another country does come with some challenges, but with those challenges come learning experiences.  Our team learned how to navigate inconveniences with the use of technology or the time change for a different country.  But, this was also a learning experience for both teams involved.  We also gained knowledge from each other because of the difference in where we come from.

We hope others can step forward into community service and help their community because it is rewarding to know that we made someone’s day better, or an organization and be proud of what they have to offer.  There is a stereotype of the word “community service”.  A lot of people think it is work, and even though it is, there are still a lot of fun parts about the service that people miss viewing.  Whenever there’s a chance to get involved, people of the community should step forth and be proud to serve.  In this case, The Southwest Middle School can now have their students learn about the environmental aspect of the world and enjoy their garden.  The children can take an interest and hopefully spark a new generation of scientists!      

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The 4G Impact

  By Grant Jacoby • December 5, 2022 , , ,

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. 

ECAP Research – Google Slides

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. 

 

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Terra Team Service Project

  By Brett Misera • December 5, 2022 , , , ,

Our group consists of four members, Brycen, Brett, Preston, and Nate. Brycen is a freshman and a business major, Brett is a freshman and undecided, Preston is a freshman and an accounting major, and Nate is a senior and a Criminal Justice major. 

 

For our service project, we worked at the Tyson elementary school in Reading Pa. In a seemingly poverty-stricken region of Reading, we were doing gods work by purifying this garden for these children. We worked with the Salvation Army, other volunteers, and the Berks conservation district. While working on the garden, we cleaned up scattered blocks, pulled weeds, removed trash, and trimmed branches of overgrown trees. Additionally, we spent time painting flower pots which were old and decrepit looking. Whilst afterward filling them with quality dirt and vegetable seeds. To complete our hours we also plan to work with John Rost on tasks around our Penn State Greenhouse area. 

Research Link:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=43c28d7f92&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1751402816030548694&th=184e3b94f41ea2d6&view=att&disp=safe&realattid=f_lbb0j62a0

 

Service Presentation – Google Slides.webm

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The Green Team Presents: Responsible Consumption and Production Using Composting

  By abm6836 • December 5, 2022 , , ,

Introduction

Hello, we are The Green Team! Our group members are Patrick, Blake, Abby, and Shania.

Patrick is a senior Hospitality Management Major. Blake is a first year student and plans on double majoring in psychology and business. Abby is a first year student and currently is an undecided major. Shania is first year student as well at Penn State Berks and is majoring in Accounting. We all have enjoyed working with the Berks County Conservation District and learning about composting.

 

Research

Our research issue was SDG 12 – responsible consumption and production. With this issue, we investigated ways that we could improve our consumption and production. Currently, throughout the world people are consuming a lot and we see that consumption and production is a major problem. People throughout the world are consuming and producing so much that they would need multiple Earth’s just to meet their needs. We want to reduce our consumption and production and our goal was to find ways where we could do just that. One way that we discovered we 

 

could reduce our consumption and production is we could start using composting in our lives.

Here is our narrated research presentation: Research Project – Green Team.pptx

Service

For our service project, we volunteered our time at Oak Brook community garden. We helped Tanya, who was in charge of the Oakbrook community garden, and Veronica, who worked with the Berks County Conservation District, pull plants out of the garden and cut them up. We also flipped the compost pile. Another task that we did was, take the compost out of the bin and condense it to another one. By doing all of this we were able to gain some insight about how helpful composting can be for the environment.

Here is our service video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZZFdB7uGnfq7l_9ciFM06bNf01TNQQPB/view?usp=share_link

Reflection

Overall, The Green Team really enjoyed participating in the EACAP project. We really enjoy getting to work with and know our MSU counterpart the No Limits team. They were very cooperative and they were very fun to work with. What we gained from our service and research is new knowledge and insight into composting. We now understand how using composting can be very beneficial and can greatly improve the environment. We hope to see future generations participate in composting and as a result, improve our environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Men in Green take on Reading’s Weeds & More

  By Jaedon Mast • December 4, 2022 , , ,

http://https://youtu.be/hKFXT7EP8Kw

Hello everyone, we are the Men In Green, a team of four strangers turned best friends who had no idea what they were getting into at the beginning of the year. From left to right our names are Abhilash Menon, Jayden Tomlinson, Jaedon Mast, and Luke Collins. We were very hesitant going into this project but we were thoroughly excited to make a genuine impact on the environment. Rather than simply learning about what’s wrong with the environment through textbooks or presentations, we enjoyed positively impacting the environment through hands-on learning and service. Our mentors were Veronica Erenberg and Doug Reigle. This is an experience that has educated us in many ways and we’re going to use this project as a way of spreading awareness and a reminder to always stay involved in the betterment of the environment.

Our Service Project: Weeding Out The Bad Habits

We were assigned to the Berks County Conservation District and worked alongside Veronica Erenberg and Doug. We worked in the city of Reading at a homeless shelter called Opportunity House. The shelter had about half an acre of land next door that their residents could use to get some fresh air. Part of that area contained a little garden that was used in order to help provide fresh produce to the shelter. However, due to the Covid pandemic the garden had fallen into ruin and Wire Weed had taken over. Wire Weed is one of the hardest weeds to combat because it can’t be killed with pesticides, you have to actually dig them out and pull the weed out by hand. We then covered the dirt with hay to help protect it from the elements. We spent about 3 weeks doing this task with Veronica educating us about the goals the Conservation District has for the city, how they want to bring awareness to everyone and teach people some basic gardening principles.  Before we left, we also worked on raking leaves and other menial tasks to clean up the area after fall and prep it for the winter. Then due to some technical issues that were out of control we had to transfer our service to something on the Berks campus. For our last two hours, we worked at the green house, which is adjacent to campus. They were conducting an experiment about the best way to kill Lantern Flies, so we got to learn about experiments and see the viability of different solutions. We unwrapped and cleaned up since the experiments were mostly finished since it was getting cold. There were several other petty tasks that we completed but it was another fruitful experience as we were able to get involved in current issues and learn about ways to fix them.

Before and After at Opportunity House 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Research: Food Waste 

Due to another mishap and miscommunication our service project didn’t correlate directly with our research, but our research component was done on food waste. Looks unimportant right? There’s unlimited food, nothing harmful with a little waste, right? Wrong. There are two types of food waste, there’s the waste that comes directly from producers due to the inability to pass the tests allowing for the items to be sold in stores. Secondly, there’s the waste that comes from the consumer, due to various reasons such as expiry and just simple carelessness and indifference. In the U.S, 40% of all food produced goes to waste. And 95% of the waste ends up in landfills… That’s easy to say, but what ends up in the landfill’s releases greenhouse gasses, especially methane, that are extremely harmful to the atmosphere, which is already in a deteriorating state. There are plenty of solutions to this issue but what’s stopping us is the financial aspect. It’s super expensive to make the necessary changes and many manufacturers will suffer terrible losses if they dial back the rate of production. Farms need to produce less and adjust their supply to the demand rather than release excessively. The standards are also extremely high for foods that aren’t necessarily bad but just look a certain way. On top of this, store standards are also extremely high, so they only put out the best of the best, the consumers also only pick out what’s most visually appealing from the batch. You see how this domino effect just tarnishes possibilities of reducing food waste? A verbally miniscule issue but in reality, something that needs strict, decisive action. There are many solutions currently available; donating to food shelters, to the homeless, and the main environmental use, using the waste to fertilize soil. Once these options become more mainstream, we can finally start taking bigger steps toward a world with little to no food waste.

View our narrated research presentation: food waste presentation 

MSU Collaboration 

Another aspect of our EACAP project that we got to experience was working with a team from Moscow State University in Russia. It was a very interesting and unexpected collaboration especially with everything going on in the world right now, but I think it was a good experience for the most part. We did numerous “zoom” calls talking about our research and projects. On their end they were researching the effects of a nearby cement plant on the soil in the area. Even though are project and research weren’t the same as the MSU team we still got a lot of meaningful conversation done. It wasn’t the easiest collaboration because there is such a big time difference between our two countries but overall I think everyone in both groups got some positive things out of this collaboration.

Last Words…

We are truly grateful to have had this opportunity to make a genuinely positive impact on the world, no matter how little it may be. It will be an experience that we never forget as we had no idea what we were signing up for when we first chose this course. We will be forever grateful to our professor Dr. Mahsa Kazempour, for allowing us to use her connections to interact with communities around us and find ways in which we can engage in work that helps provide a cleaner, safer environment.

Thank you

 

Miscellaneous Pictures 

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Green Tree Peas Add a Splash of Color to Southwest Middle School

  By Alana Bangura • December 3, 2022 , , ,

Hello, We are the Green Tree Peas and we currently consist of three members. 

These members are Alana, Kimberly, and Gaetcha.

Alana Bangura

  • Hello, I am Alana currently completing my senior year at PSU Berks campus. Some quick and fun facts about me are that I enjoy music in my free time, I have my own event decor business, and I was on two different step teams at two different times in my life. 

Kimberly

  • Hi! My name is Kimberly Nicholas. I am a 3rd year student here at Penn State Berks. A couple fun facts about me are that I love horror movies, listening to music, and playing video games. My computer – my pc, is my LOVE and my LIFE I even built it myself. One of the things I achieved and own that I’m proud of.

Gaetcha

  • Hi, My name is Gaetcha Denis. I am a 2nd year student at Penn State Berks. Here’s some fun facts about me. I love to edit videos in my free time, paint and listen to music. I am a big fan of fantasy novels and anything that’s non fiction as well. I’m proud to have interned in a hospital during my last year of High School and getting to work in customer service after graduating truly changed my outlook on customer care.

 

Our research issue

Our research topic centered around Food waste and its contribution to greenhouse gasses on a National level and we decided that the best sustainable development goal to focus on with our research would be goal 13, Climate Action. During our research we gathered much information on the ways that food waste has contributed to the substantial amount of greenhouse gases being released into the environment. We also have come up with many solutions in which we could work toward eradicating or at least lowering some of these contributing factors.

EACAP Research Powerpoint

Our Service Plan

For our service component as a team we collaborated with Southwest Middle School in order to create colorful topic related tiles that would be given back to the school and placed in different rooms for the students to be able to see. Our ideas for the designs came from what we believed would be most suitable in a school environment but also covered different components of our research. We focused on food, energy, and natural resources because we believed these topics would symbolize or closely link to the research we were able to collect. 

Our Tiles

 

Final Thoughts/ Reflection

Summary: Overall, despite a couple obstacles and difficulties, we really enjoyed being a part of this project. Through collaboration with not only our PSU (Penn State University) counterparts but also with the MSU (Moscow University) students we learned how to work together with other people who share similar goals. We also appreciate how this project offered us a lens to look at environmentalism. This panel project was very important to us because the three of us love art, and it gives us an opportunity to go out into the world, starting with a middle school in our own community. This project assisted us in being able to make small changes happen and educate young people through art about the beauty of the environment and how to maintain it all while trying to make a difference.

To the Youth: Take the time to get creative and join in helping your community! There are plenty of things you could do that may be of interest to you! Take our team for example, we all love art and this was a great way for us to dig into our own passions while playing a crucial role in giving back. 

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The Big Green’s Exploration into Soils & Gardens

  By Hunter Zohn • November 14, 2022 , , ,

The Big Green’s Exploration into Soil and Gardens

Hunter Zohn: 18 years old and I am majoring in Berks Business as a Management/Marketing option. I’m from Bethel, PA.

Adrianna Brugler: 18 years old, from Honey Brook, PA, attending The Pennsylvania State University – Berks Campus, majoring in Business Administration, does cheerleading as an extracurricular / sport for the school, aiming to graduate in 4 years with a bachelor’s degree.

Ryan Moseman: I’m from Reading, PA and I am 20 years old, attending Pennsylvania State University in the 2+2 program, majoring in accounting, and president of the Investing Club at PSU Berks, aiming to graduate in 3 years with a bachelor’s degree

Xavier Almonte – 19 years old. Currently majoring in Marketing. I’m from Reading, PA. I’m trying to graduate in 2 years. 

Research:

Research Presentation 

We researched how industries impact soil. We found that all the pollution and waste from factories reduce the quality of the soil. It is hard to grow anything on the soil and we lose all the possibilities of what could have been grown. We found that if an outside source such as the government steps in and makes factories monitor their waste and pollution it will greatly help the health of the soil.

Service:

Service Presentation

We worked at the Buttonwoods Garden to eliminate waste at the garden, take soil samples, clean up, and pick vegetables. We were also attempting to promote the building of urban gardens.

Reflection:

We learned a bunch of information about soil and found it useful. Going forward we have plenty of help on how we can create the most environmentally friendly garden in our own backyards. We had joy getting all this information and interacting with the garden and other people with similar interests in sustainability.

Images:

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Follow The Green Footprints At Southwest Middle School

  By Hanna Mohn • November 8, 2022 , , ,

Greetings, we are The Green Footprints! This fall of 2022, our EACAP team focused on sustainability in grades K-12 in order to bring awareness to the negative effects of implausible building sites for America’s youth. We had the honor of partnering with Southwest Middle School in Reading, PA, in order to spread knowledge and create pieces of art on ceiling tiles inspired by environmental topics.

Team Members: Haili Baxter (Front Right), from Florida, takes an interest in playing Volleyball and watching TV in her free time while majoring in Criminal Justice. Lauren Burisky (Back Left), from Pennsylvania, is majoring in Hospitality and likes to spend time with friends and family. Paige Barrineau (Front Left), from Pennsylvania, spends her free time drawing and watching Netflix and plans to major in accounting, and Hanna Mohn (Front Middle), from Pennsylvania, is majoring in Criminal Justice and works/studies in her free time.

Research: Our research project focused on sustainability within schools across the U.S. as well as internationally. Since school is essential for educational purposes and students’ learning development, they will not be leaving anytime soon. In return, we wanted to research different ways we could improve the quality of schools and their effect on the environment. Linked above is our narrated presentation, which reviews our project. We looked at schools in recent years that have been in the spotlight for making greener choices, as well as the timeline of environmentalism itself. We discussed how widespread this problem is, what factors are most brought up when environmentalism is looked at in schools, and the problems schools can cause for the environment. Lastly, we discuss solutions that faculty and students can use to create a more sustainable environment while on campus.

Our Service Project Summary: In October we were tasked with visiting Southwest Middle School and obtaining two tiles per group member to turn into environmental paintings that related to chemical science as well as physical science. Lauren chose to paint the food web (physical) and Nitrogen element (chemical), Hanna chose to paint the energy pyramid (physical) and Oxygen element (chemical), Paige chose to paint photosynthesis (physical) and the Sulfur element (chemical), and Haili chose to paint the moon phases (physical) and Carbon element (chemical).

EACAP Service Video

Hanna’s Progress and Finished Tiles:

Paige’s Progress and Finished Tiles:


Lauren’s Progress and Finished Tiles:

 

 

 

Haili’s Progress and Finished Tiles:

Reflection: As our EACAP project is coming to an end, along with our collaboration with MSU team Rumechi Uni, we have learned some valuable lessons that will be useful to us throughout our lives. We became more comfortable talking to a variety of students, including those out of the country. We gained social skills by learning how to communicate in critical situations in order to solve problems, and we realized we would not have been able to complete such a large project without each other’s help and insight. We had trouble with the time difference and making progress when the other teams hadn’t, but we overcame these problems by setting a weekly time frame that worked for all of us in order to be on a google meet, and focused on our progress so we weren’t held back.

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The Happy Little Trees had fun with Southwest Middle School!

  By Arial Charles • October 24, 2022 , , ,

The Happy Little Trees

Hello, we are the Happy Little Trees! Our group is composed of four first-year students named Fay, Arial, Maddie, and Molly. We all enjoy shopping, hanging out with friends, and painting! Fay is doing a double major in Risk Management and Entrepreneurship. She loves to play volleyball, cook, and play with her dog. Maddie is majoring in Business marketing. She enjoys spending time with her family, boating and traveling. Arial is majoring in business marketing. She loves cats and being creative. Molly is undecided. She enjoys taking naps and painting and loves dogs.

 

Research

While figuring out our research topic, we aimed for a topic that is related to both teams’ service projects. After hearing the MSU students were focusing on composting, we decided to research the issue of food waste today in the United States and Russia. We worked with students from MSU to compare and contrast the food waste in the US and the food waste in Russia. We went further to investigate our own cafeteria right here at Penn State Berks, and conducted an interview with Head Chef, Joseph Ertel. After many zoom meetings with the MSU students and continuing our research, we created a narrated presentation summing up all of our findings and comparisons. 

Food Waste Research Presentation Link

Service

For our service project, we decided to paint ceiling tiles for the Southwest Middle School right in Reading. We worked with Shana Holler, head of their science department to plan on painting the tiles for the science hallways. We focused our painting on the environment and sustainability. We painted two tiles each and created paintings that would showcase the importance of our planet and conserve its unique beauty. It was very fun to create art while also educating such a young group of students at the middle school. We created a video showing our progress and experience with this portion of our project.

Service Project Video (Ceiling Tiles)

Outcome

As a whole, we all worked well together and enjoyed both portions of this project. Although finding the right times to meet with MSU students was difficult, we still enjoyed getting to speak with them and collaborate on this project. It was great to grasp a different perspective of the world and be able to work with international students. We worked hard on our paintings as well and hope the students at Southwest Middle School enjoy them and make an impact on their views of their environment. It was a great experience and we were very glad that through this experience we were able to make new friends!