Category: Southwest Middle School

BMAK – Final EACAP Post

ktf5124Southwest Middle School

Team Introduction:

Members (Left to Right)

Matthew D’Haiti –  2nd Year, Accounting Major

Kayla Fenwick – 2nd Year, Business Major

Aviana Armstead-Collado – 3rd year, Psychology Major

Bryan Martinez – 1st Year, Undecided Major

Service

Organization: SouthWest Middle School 

We decided to partner with SouthWest Middle school to clean up, re-beautify, and revive their outdoor garden area. During our service we helped weed their garden boxes, clean up the previous projects that have been overlooked over the seasons, and paint new storage containers to make space more lively. We also decided to add bird feeders to this space to welcome a species into this small community. 


Click the link to watch our Service video: Service Video Slides.pptx

Research 

What was our topic? 

Overgrazing, Land Degradation & Habitat Fragmentation 

Why did we choose it? 

We choose to research these topics based on how much they impacted and influenced the environmental issues it poses to our ecosystems. These three topics in particular all impact ecosystem’s ability to sustain and thrive in major ways that support the organisms living in that distinct space.

 Click the link to watch our Narrated Presentation: Research Presenation.pptx

Reflection 

This project has given us the opportunity to learn more about the issues that are harming our environment, how we ourselves play a role as society in contributing to it, and what we can do moving forward to stop, prevent & help flourish our environment. With being able to give back to surrounding communities like SouthWest Middle School it has opened our eyes to how important it is to create spaces for younger people to learn how to nurture their environment. With this webpage post we hope to send a message that’s informative and motivating to not only youth but to all individuals to get involved with protecting our environment.   

Enjoy These Pictures from Earth Day!

The Goofy Goober’s providing goofy green services

lea5216Fall 2022 Project Teams

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!      

The 4G Impact

Grant Jacoby4Glasses

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. 

 

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

Alana BanguraFall 2022 Project Teams

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. 

Follow The Green Footprints At Southwest Middle School

Hanna MohnFall 2022 Project Teams

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.

The Happy Little Trees had fun with Southwest Middle School!

Arial CharlesFall 2022 Project Teams

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!