New projects

Having successfully returned from the backpacking trip, the grad students have been assigned new projects and given different challenges for the next few weeks.

Yesterday, we were introduced to the nature phenology project. Essentially, the graduate students were asked to pick a part of nature that can be observed and that changes with the seasons. We are to record the changes to that natural specie or area over the next nine months in a variety of forms including: photography, poetry, drawings, sound maps, essays, watercolor, etc. In May, we will present our findings at an open house evening.

Some of the projects grad students are tackling include: snow pack change through winter, the changing sounds of Ditch Creek, and weather variations. I have decided to combine science and social science for my phenology project. I will focus on nourishment and the ways in which plants, animals, and humans nourish themselves. I will do additional research on the psychology, economics, and seasonality of food.

For my study, I have found a circle of four Douglas Fir Trees on campus where there seems to be quite a bit of natural activity. I will be visiting that spot twice a week for nine months to record the species in that area and do research about food gathering and storing activities in that area. I also hope to include the greater Jackson community in my research by interviewing local chefs, restaurant critics, and families throughout the year to record how their diet and form of nourishment changes throughout the seasons. Lastly, I intend to do some internal searching and explore how nature nourishes me. Over the next few days I will be designing guidelines and a rubric to help direct my research.

Lastly, we have begun observing our faculty members teach residential groups that come to campus. Right now we have a group of fifty Wyoming fifth graders who bounded off the bus today eager to begin a week of nature exploration. It is great to take a backseat and observe the faculty engage these kids in such innovative ways.