Category: Northeast Middle School

Green Queens help clean up Northeast MS

rxg5592Fall 2024 Project Teams

Rece Golab- Freshman, Political Science major 

Skyler Shanahan- Freshman, Early Education major

Kaitlyn Brunner- Sophomore, Human Resources major 

 Our topic for research….

Acid Rain- Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. There are many different causes like the emission of SO2 and Nox into the air, human activities, fossil fuel burning, vehicle exhaust, and industrial processes. 

Watch our research video on acid rain here!

Our service project! Northeast Middle School 

Our project was at Northeast Middle School in Reading. We were tasked with the cleanup of their courtyard. We had to pull up all the weeds, dig up anything sticking out of the ground, and overall cleanup of the pond area. We shoveled things out of the ground and smoothed over the areas around their small pond so that it was accessible. They wanted it cleaned up so they could use that area as an outdoor learning environment for the children.

Take a look at our progress and presentation here!

Our reflection!

Our thoughts about EACAP are that we believe it was a really great experience overall. We enjoyed researching a topic we’d never explored before. We also enjoyed being able to help the school and children in the process of clearing out that area for them to use as an outdoor learning space. It was a decent about of work but in the end we had fun and we also learning a lot about not only our topic, but what we can achieve to help others in our community. We gained some valuable knowledge about acid rain as well as experience in volunteering and helping the children at a school have an exciting new area to learn in. A message we give to others is to put in the work. Do your best and collaborate with others because once you complete something like we did at the school, not only will you be proud of yourself for completing it, but you’ll be grateful that you did because you can see how much those kids will enjoy it.

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Group Cleans Up Reading School Garden Corner

Gabriella BorzilloClimate Crew

Team intro—

Gabby: 2nd year majoring in Criminal Justice 

Karina: 1st year majoring in Early Childhood Education

Marie: 1st year majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries Science 

Dan: 2nd year majoring in Business

 

Our Service–

The organization we worked with was Northeast Middle school, we were asked to clean up their garden that was infested with bugs, overgrown plants, and trash. We wanted to provide Northeast Middle School with the beautiful garden they intended so we did our best to clean up the area. We gained a sense of community within our group as well as appreciation for the environment we are capable of making beautiful again. It was rewarding to see all our hard work be shown through the visual of our garden. The pictures we have (included in the presentation) show how the efforts Northeast Middle School students put into making the once beautiful garden presentable. Shown are clothes hanger butterflies, signs, and intentionally gardened plants such as tomatoes and vines to surround the garden. We noticed that they became overgrown and unmaintained, allowing invasive plants and animals to overbear the existing plants. We did our best to first cut down all the overgrown plants to the roots in order to best clean out the area. We continued that for 4 hours of our service hours. We then attempted to pull out and cut the weeds and vines we could for another 3 hours. The last thing we did was pour weed killer on the existing roots and rake what was left. We were left with an empty garden ready for the planting of soil and new plants. We will take with us the feeling of accomplishment and move forward implementing it into our daily lives. The plants we have in our daily lives will now be looked at with more care and affection than before and we encourage others to do the same in honor of the work at Northeast Middle school.

We researched Land Degradation– Land Degradation effects the environment greatly. Land Degradation is the decline in the quality of land due to natural processes and human activity. It has been a concern for thousands of years. The scale of degradation has increased dramatically since the industrial revolution, due to urbanization, industrial agriculture, mining, and climate change. Possible SDG’s include:

Life on land– restoring degraded land and soil to achieve a land degradation-neutral world by 2030

Clean water and sanitation– degradation affects water quality and availability by disrupting watersheds and increasing sedimentation

Garden Knights Journey

Riya PatelFall 2024 Project Teams
Our Team Members

 

Get to know us! (left to right):

  • Kaileigh Ritenour – 3rd year – Criminal Justice Major and Psychology Minor
  • Riya Ketan Patel – 2nd year – Elementary and Early Childhood Education, pk-4 Major
  • Enxi Jin – 2nd year – Mathematics Major

Research:

Biodiversity Loss Title Slide
Click the image above to learn more!

        Our team researched the topic of biodiversity loss. Biodiversity is all the animals, plants, ecosystems and more! It consists of all life on Earth, and it is very important! Currently biodiversity is threatened all around the world. Plants and animal species that have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years are nearing the brink of extinction. But, why? What’s causing this? Well, things like pollution, habitat destruction, overexploitation, etc. are all major contributors to this issue, and these contributing factors create dire consequences for the planet. Some consequences are the loss of genetic diversity, the degradation of ecosystems, and the effect on human life through things like threatening food security. In order to combat these issues, groups and organizations all around the world are taking measures and initiating conservation efforts. Some of these efforts include creating protected areas, making legislation and laws, increasing community involvement, and practicing sustainability. These conservation efforts are succeeding, and many animals and ecosystems have been saved from extinction and destruction. One example of this is the bald eagles. Bald eagles were nearly extinct in the 1960s due to habitat loss, use of chemicals, and hunting. However, they were put on the Endangered Species Act of the U.S. Along with this, the use of the chemical DDT was banned. These efforts succeeded and by the early 2000s, the Bald Eagle populations had recovered enough to be taken off of the Endangered Species Act. This is just one example of many that show how impactful these conservation efforts are and how important it is for us to take action. It is not necessary for only large corporations and companies to take initiative but we, as individuals can too! You can buy sustainable products, plant species native to your area, reduce the use of chemicals, recycle, and much more!

Don’t forget to click on the picture above to learn more about biodiversity loss!

 

Service:

Our team at Northeast Middle School!
The finished results!
The before picture!
The removed plants!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see our service video!

        For the service portion of the EACAP project, our team worked alongside the Northeast Middle School. We were tasked with cleaning up a part of the three-tiered garden. This once used to be used for educational use and the students were able to grow vegetables and get involved. Unfortunately, overtime the use of the garden decreased and the garden became overgrown. Our goal was to clean up the garden and provide students with the ability to use the garden again. The images above show some moments from our service from when we first started the project, all the way to the end results!

        You can click on the “EACAP Service” image to access our service video and learn more about our service!

 

Thoughts

Our poster for the expo!
Our team at the expo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Our team is thankful for the opportunity to get involved and help in our community, and believe it or not, there are many ways for you to get involved too! Some things that our team does to be more environmentally conscious is by using sustainable products, carpooling, and recycling! And there are many other options. Whether that be by making more sustainable choices in your day-to-day activities, planting trees in your neighborhoods, raising awareness to family and friends, or cleaning up a garden like us, the choice is up to you! Take action today ♥

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” – Robert Swan

 

 

The Go Go Girls & Birdhouses!

Dahlya LivingstonNortheast Middle School

Introduction:

Hi, I am Nathalie Del Rosario. I am a first year student. My major is Criminal Justice and I want to be a detective. My favorite color is blue. I am from New York City. 10 years from now I see myself with my dream job and having my own house traveling. Hi, I am Dahlya Livingston. My favorite color is blue. My major is middle level education. I Am from Atlanta, Georgia. In 10 years I see myself being a principal of a Middle School. Hi, My name is Nakiyah White. I am a 3rd year student studying Psychology. I am from Philadelphia, PA, I love to travel. In 10 years I see myself rich and in my #1 dream car. We Work with Northeast middle school. 

Research: 

The research topic that we are exploring as a group is land pollution. Land pollution is the destruction or a decline in the quality of the earth’s surface as a result of human actions.

Service:

In order to support our research topic we have teamed up with Northeast Middle School to create a learning space for the young growing minds. During our service component we have power washed and weeded the surrounding areas. Painted different beautiful bird houses, also painted a bird tray and provided bird seeds inside the bird tray. This will be beneficial to the students at Northeast Middle School, students get a closer look to wildlife behavior. While also seeing how human causes have consequences to wildlife.

Click HERE view our video!