Service Learning Hours

Today, the last day of Colloquium, we all had to discuss what we did for our service learning hours. I, along with a few others in the class went to the FGCU Food Forest. As I said in class, it was so much hard work! Hats off to people that do that for a living because I definitely believe we take it for granted. It was an eye opening experience because I will be the first to say I have never gardened to that extent. Also, a few people talked about doing their hours at Koreshan State Park and Naples Botanical Garden. It's a shock, but I haven't heard of either of these places before this class. Naples Botanical Garden seemed so beautiful and interesting. As for Koreshan State Park, I pass by there almost everyday so it was a shock to me to find out that I always pass it by without even thinking twice about it. Overall, I enjoyed my experience in this colloquium class. I was never the one to look at scenery and/or nature. However, after this class I'm glad to say that I can look at the world around me in a different light. Even though this class was mandatory through FGCU, Professor Morris made it interesting to where I didn't feel like I was dreading every class I went to. Instead of it being a burden to come to this "mandatory" class everyday, I made it worthwhile. Between the interesting class discussions and the field trips, Colloquium was definitely a successful course to par take in.

Character

A few weeks ago in class, Professor Morris showed us a Youtube video of an elderly woman getting picked on as a bus monitor by middle school children. Honestly, this video made me speechless. I couldn't stand watching it seeing these little monsters making the woman cry. In class we also talked about how our charcter portrays our behavior and in this case I can see that is true. If the middle school children had any form of charcater, they wouldn't have acted the way they did. In order to build good character, one has to know and learn, and commit to it. To be frank, I put 100% responsibility on the parents because your parents should make a foundation that you grow up on and they should always point you in the right direction. Growing character can be a process and in order to fully have good, moral, character, you have to commit. Without commiting to something, as I learned in class, you can't say you have good character because your behavior will show otherwise, as it did in this Youtube video.

Downtown Fort Myers

On our last and final field trip for Colloquium we went to downtown Fort Myers. My very first reaction when being told we were going there was how in the world can we relate downtown Fort Myers to everything that we've past learned in this Colloquium course?! I didn't see it tying together. But, the trip proved me wrong. We first started off going to the farmers market. I have never been to a farmer's market but it was so quaint! There were all kinds of vegetables and foods. If we were able to stay a little longer, we would have seen many more types of foods being sold. After, we became being told by my professor about the old Indians tribes that used to inherit the downtown area. Who would've known the Calussahatchee Indians were the ones to do it! Another very interesting fact I brought back with me from the field trip was in 1885, Thomas Edison came to Fort Myers to get some bamboo. Before steel, Edison used bamboo as his filament for the light bulb. Along with Edison, Ford and Firestone were also those among living in downtown Fort Myers at the time. Last but not least, our professor showed us a mural that summed up everything of Fort Myers history. Each picture in it portrayed a different story. It was very beautiful.

A Land Remembered

First thing is first. Anyone who is anyone has got to read A Land Remembered!! It is definitely a must read....at least to anyone that is living in Florida. It makes you look at the state in a completely different light. For Patrick Smith, the author, it must have been such a journey in finding all the history behind Florida before writing this book. It makes you take a step back and thoroughly think about all the rough things that your ancestors have been through in the past generations. I never once took the time to sit back and think about what kind of hardships my ancestors went through just to earn money. Much like the main characters in the book, all farmers back in the late 1800s had to work almost all day everyday in order to make a living and be able to sustain it. When I first heard I had to read the book A Land Remembered I wasn't very excited...not another boring book! But this one was completely not what I imagined it to be. It is such an easy read and is a book that will impact you for years to come.

Adaptation to Environment in Education

In some of Louv's readings, he talks about how children's stress levels minimize if they spend time outside. I can believe that! As a child, I was very sheltered when it came to anything that had to do with environment or "going green". When it comes to education in schools, P.E can now even be offered online. Tell me how that makes any sense? "Physical" education online. Sounds like a joke to me. If people, both children and adults, just took more time in taking in everything around them, the world would be looked at so differently. It's important for children growing up to stay connected with the outdoors. No one should be too sheltered, like I was, in knowing and being educated about the world we live in.

Sustainability

Sustainability has been a huge topic in class this semester. To be completely honest, I didn't even really know the exact definition of something being "sustainable" until taking this colloquium course. Sustainability is the capacity to endure. Without sustainability, no community or society can thrive. It is a big responsibility. On the ECHO trip I learned a bunch about sustainability and how people all around the world are learning new and different ways in order to prosper and be sustainable. Here in the U.S we should all start to think of better, more sustainable ways to get by. Without sustainability, generations cannot continue to grow and live. Ways of living more sustainable can be from using more green houses, or even more "eco friendly" cars. If we start going green a little bit more, it will probably be more beneficial in the long run for years to come.

SOW Project

For my State of the World project, my group was assigned the chapter titled "Farmers Take the Lead in Research & Development". I never knew how much hard work it takes in order to be a farmer. And in order for farmers to thrive, they have to be able to communicate with other farmers and share in their findings. For example, if one found a faster way to grow crops, they can share that with other farmers. It is so much easier to work together as a team than to work individually. New farmers innovations meet the needs of many people around the world. So research & development is an ongoing thing for farmers. It never slows down, and that just means that each and everyday more things are being discovered and used to benefits farmers and the way they live.

Lover's Key State Park

Who wouldn't love going to the beach for a field trip in college? I know I loved it! However, all honesty, going to Lover's Key State Park was not all about just enjoying the wind in your hair, or the sand between your toes. One thing that I learned at Lover's Key was about the plant mangrove. Let's get one thing straight, I know absolutely nothing when it comes to plants and leaves and that sort of thing. So learning about different kinds of mangroves was interesting. There are three types of mangroves: red, black, and white.The red mangrove are the ones closest to the water, their roots prop above the water. Black mangroves are the ones that live on the higher of ground. I also learned that mangroves excrete salt and actually thrive on saline. Lover's Key was an amazing place to go and explore. It's a beautiful place that everyone should go and visit if they are ever in Fort Myers. It gives you a time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fresh air around you.

ECHO

Our second field trip was to ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization). Before Colloquium class, I didn't know anything about this organization! We got to walk around and were educated about all the agricultural issues around the world, and solutions that ECHO has made so far to try and help world hunger. I think one main thing that stuck with me from my trip was the "miracle fruit". I wasn't able to taste it first hand, but what it does is when you taste just a tiny bit of it, it makes everything else that you eat sweet. We were even informed that even if you were to eat a lemon right after, you would STILL not have the sour taste of what a lemon should taste like, and rather it would taste sweet. A second thing that I found amazing was a plant called Moringa. The Moringa Tree has seven times the Vitamin C of oranges, four times the calcium of milk, three times the potassium of bananas, and twice the protein of yogurt! Moringa can even be used for water purification! Going to ECHO really opened my eyes and I enjoyed every minute of being there, it was quite an experience!

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

On our first trip we went to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I definitely learned a lot with going there such as the many different kinds of trees and plants. One thing that stuck with me for some reason was the topic of the fungi lichen. I had no idea about lichen before talking about it at the Corkscrew Sanctuary. Going to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary has definitely opened my eyes to the history of Florida. At the very end of the field trip we saw maps of what Florida looked like in the past, present, and future. I am pretty excited to continue learning all these facts and information about Florida that I have never knew. I believe that taking Colloquium is going to open my eyes and let me view Florida and everything about it in a completely different perspective.