Angie Ayala: Week 1 Recap

The most exciting thing we learned in my opinion was how to conduct an educational hike. When leading a hike, I never realized how much the guide has to take into consideration. From knowing where to stand to make your group comfortable to being able to keep them engaged, an educational hike has multiple components to it. Using that newfound knowledge, we met with the local high schoolers and were able to lead them through our own educational hike. I’d say the most challenging part of this past week was getting the high schoolers excited about forestry and natural resources. It’s easy to forget that not everyone is as excited as we are about wildlife and forestry, so it’s difficult to get them engaged. I’m also looking forward to setting up the camera traps for my project. So far, my partner and I have scouted suitable locations for them, so being able to finally set them up and gather data is exciting.